Star Wars: Power of the Dark Side
by Don'tBeLame
Summary: SPOILERS FOR RISE OF SKYWALKER My take on the end of Rise of Skywalker and everything that I would have had happen afterwards. I haven't written anything in a while, but I haven't felt this inspired to write in a good long while so here goes. Reylo pairing, and making some Legends stuff canon so fair warning if you don't like that stuff.
1. Chapter 1

The great tomb of Exegol had grown unsettlingly still, as silent as a grave should be.

As he had been scrambling his way back up the crevasse that Palpatine had flung him into, Ben Solo had felt the strongest surge in the Force that had ever graced his body and mind.

Something had happened above him and he couldn't climb fast enough to see if any of the conclusions swirling in his rattled head had indeed come to pass. For there wasn't any rushing in the Force anymore just out of sight; not the collection of black hate that had been Palpatine, nor the storm of conflict that had been Rey.

There was nothing, and that was a frightening thing indeed.

Finally, his gloved hand slammed on the edge of the pit he had fallen down at the behest of the dark power he and Rey had been previously powerless to stop. With a great effort and a gasp of pain, he pulled himself back into the cavernous room that stretched around him like the never-ending maw of an Exogorth though one quite larger than any Ben had ever seen while scouring the universe for then Luke Skywalker and more recently, the newly revived Darth Sidious. But now, while it still encompassed him, there were great chunks ripped from the roof thousands of feet above him that now littered the ancient floor around him from pieces the size of astromech droids to ones further away the size of Corellian cruisers. He sensed the emptiness behind him, indicating the seemingly endless horde of Sith worshippers who had borne witness to their battle of wills had either vanished or perished following whatever cataclysmic event had just transpired.

But Ben hadn't a concern in the world for any of those hooded figures. Nor did he spare much of a thought for the fighters that he knew must still be above him in atmosphere, Star Destroyers versus the Resistance's fleet and whatever else those stubborn fools had managed to conjure up through pleas that echoed of hope and finality. He hardly even thought of Palpatine who no longer stood before the cracked and broken throne in front of him.

His eyes and feelings only extended to the young woman who lay on the ground just ahead of him.

A young woman he could no longer feel in the Force.

With a bout of panic blossoming within, Ben attempted to run to her before finding that a very possibly broken leg was not going to let him move with such speed. The pain of it burned incredibly and he had to reach through the Force to steady himself and hold his balance as he limped his way over to where he had stood not minutes ago.

_Please… after everything, don't let it end like this._

Whatever that was that Palpatine had been, whatever resurrected tidal wave of dark side energy had struck at him and Rey had disappeared from any perception he had, and he knew that she must have done it. How she had done it, he didn't know.

_How could she have? How could she have even come close?_

But he knew the answer as he collapsed next to her battered form and pulled her to him, cradling her head in his arms. The warmth he felt from her body seemed no more than an echo of life and the eyes that looked up at him, blank and empty made this infinitely more apparent.

Rey was dead. She had died doing what he could not, what he should have tried long before this day.

Emotions began to wisp and swirl about him, gathering in the Force as manifestations of his will. Ben shook with denial, anger and fear as the ground quaked around him; denial that everything he had come to accept had been for nothing, anger that despite having known, having KNOWN, what they were doing was right, she was still dead and an overwhelming fear as he refused to consider what would come now that she was…

"I WON'T!"

Bearer of his will, the Force blasted away from him, repulsing everything within a hundred foot radius of his mourning, from the largest pieces of destroyed Sith architecture to the barest dust particles that still drifted lazily towards the floor. He barely noticed this as tears clouded his vision. The Force was cruel, truly, granting him the light to see clearly what had been before him all along, only to then snatch away the very catalyst of that return to the same light. Despair flooded him then and he became what he was at his core, a broken and defeated young man who had nothing to hold onto now; his parents had left him, the Force mocked him and the girl who had done everything to restore him was gone.

As grief began to disassemble his mind, however, he DID feel something. Something that wasn't his own personal typhoon of misery. Through the Force, impossible though it was, he sensed… her.

As a child might, he looked up and spun around wildly, his dark hair whipping about as he looked for the nature of this presence. Rey was with him? How could she be? The only thing he had of her was her body, a tortured husk of determination and good. But he knew this was real, he had sensed this too many times to even consider otherwise. It was oh so faint, but it was Rey.

He knew then, with all the clarity of a sunrise on a cloudless morning. And he knew what he had to do.

Pressing a hand against her side just as she had to him on the gnarled skeleton of the second Death Star, he inhaled, and as he inhaled, he pulled from everything he could possibly reach in the Force. He didn't distinguish between Dark and Light, whether it was a deep basin of energy or nothing more than a thread of power left behind thousands of years ago; everything within his grasp, Ben gripped and pulled to him like a tractor beam.

But he didn't hold it. He used his body as a conductor for this energy, letting it flow into him and then out just as quickly. He directed the Force with more will than he had ever used in his entire life, and when the Force had nothing left to give, he bestowed his own energy, everything he had to give. A great pressure seemed to be building within him as though his body were about to implode and collapse upon itself. He remembered how much it had cost Rey to heal him those days ago of the wound inflicted with his own lightsaber. There was nothing to allow validity to the assumption that what he was attempting was even possible; despite years of research into all the chasms of ancient dark side teachings, nothing he had read even came close to insinuating what he was attempting. Deep down, he knew what he was doing was impossible.

He was going to do it anyway.

'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

This must have been the peace that Luke had felt when he had passed into the Force. As Rey felt as though she were drifting off to sleep, there was a great ease that came with every solitary moment of her being. Her physicality now seemed properly abstract, as though it had never been to begin with, and every thought she had was nothing short of calm.

_We did it… he's gone. The Emperor is gone. _

She seemed to be drifting gently through a very powerful light, but it wasn't blinding like looking directly at a star. It rather felt cleansing and pure, a feeling she wish could remain forever.

She thought to her friends, what Finn would think, what Poe would say, how Chewie and BB-8 would feel with her passing. Sadness, she supposed, just as she had felt when Han, or Luke, or Leia had moved on. Pain surely, she was no stranger to that awful feeling of losing someone close. She offered one final request to the Force before it took her, that they would know she had died halting this terribly strong evil from plaguing the galaxy any longer, that she had done it to protect them and ensure their safety. This was her hope.

_And maybe this way… I can see Ben again._

Rey believed that since she was beyond feeling anything physical, this was why she only felt like what was a smile. Then, for the first time since she had begun drifting, she felt unease.

_Ben?_

In those climactic and unstoppably intense moments, she had seen through her blurry gaze that Ben had been flung down one of the pits that had opened within the Exegul temple. And while she had drawn on the power of the Jedi before her to guide her strength and aid her in defeating her grandfather, she hadn't even noticed that she had felt nothing.

Nothing at all at the passing of the person she had rapidly found was the most important in her life.

_Ben!_

She cried out in the Force, hoping to feel him, to be granted some sort of assurance that he was waiting for her, but a terrifying nothing remained. Rey began struggling against the peace she had only recently been embracing, feeling as though she were in a dream she couldn't wake from. Though no tears came from this luminous form, she felt them as she had felt the smile. The peace of the Force surrounded her, but she was no longer one with it.

She didn't want to be one with it.

Then, as if summoned by her very fear and discomfort, a lance of chaotic energy exploded through her reality. The light became a sway of tones and feelings, overpowered rapidly by this thrust into the Force. Rey reached into it without any hesitation and recoiled at the power of what she felt. Despair, anger and fear twisted around this spike in the Force, culminating in a violent point that seemed to pass through both her and Force. And at the very center of it, was sheer will. Will that knocked aside everything in its path to reach her, will that shouted of denial and frustration.

Will that seemed to overpower the Force itself.

Rey felt a great rush as though she had been pulled into a whirlpool that was sucking her into one of the great sinkholes like the ones she had seen on Malastare and Utapau. She was moving all too quickly, as though a great deal of time was being rewound in her mind and she screamed silently for it to stop before…

"Ben?"

She was no longer drifting. No longer floating away. Now she was aware of every bruise, cut, every punishment she had been dealt in her fight with Palpatine. She felt the cold and emptiness of the yawning grave within the Exegol temple. The breathing her body as she sucked ancient air in and out. Her hand that had moved on its own to grip the gloved one on her side.

And the face above her.

Rey had spoken his name seemingly without even knowing it; she heard her voice echoing around them rather than the spoken name. She watched as the annunciation of his birth name broke the face of the once monstrous Kylo Ren and he became exactly who she had just asked for. He had brought her back from the edge, somehow, through some miracle of the Force that she would never have imagined possible. Ben had achieved it, for her.

The Force urged her desires and she reached out to caress his bloodied face. The streaks of tears that left clear tracks in the dust and dirt of his face sent the most awful, beautiful pang through her now beating heart and as it pounded a roaring tattoo against her chest, she moved to meet him as he had surely been feeling the same.

It was the best kind of kiss, one that may have been a bit clumsy and looked somewhat awkward to anyone who might have happened to seen it, but for Rey, it couldn't have been further from her mind. This was her victory, and Ben's; the defeat of the Emperor had merely been prelude. This was their culmination, what they both had felt coming for the longest time, but had never truly acknowledged. Love, in its purest form, sealed their bond through the Force.

He pulled away gently and spoke at just barely a whisper.

"Rey… "

She smiled at him as strongly as she ever had, but as he pulled away, she felt something else too. Some great tremor as though something was slipping away. And as Ben's grip loosened and he moved away from her, she realized what it meant.

"No, no, NO!"

He had already fallen away from him and their positions had now reversed, her holding him as she felt him slip away, not in her grip, but in the Force. Rey yelled in fear and tried to draw on the immense power that had aided her in defeating Palpatine, but it was nowhere to be found. Even her own power seemed drained and incapable of returning to her in any measured way.

"Ben, you can't leave us, you can't leave ME, not now… " Rey resorted to begging as she realized she had nothing else. She pressed her lips to his forehead and hurled a silent, furious prayer to the Force that it wouldn't do this to her.

How could it bring her back and rob her like this?

But as she felt the final vestige of life from Ben Solo rush away from her, she let out a wail, just barely willing to accept that perhaps the way of the Force truly could be this uncaring.

'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

Ben Solo stood between worlds.

Or that's how he perceived it anyway.

He seemed to be standing on nothing, surrounded by nothing and looking into what could have been a scene from a holofilm. It was beneath him and yet behind him. Or perhaps that was just how it felt to him in this odd plane of existence.

Rey was there, holding his body and sobbing over it and Ben found himself wanting nothing more than to rush at the scene and reassure her that everything was fine, that he had never left. The Force told him otherwise though and he unclenched the furious fists that had formed at his side. He had made the choice to bring Rey back and he was now understanding the true cost. She truly had meant everything to him there at the end and so it had cost everything to bring her back.

Even himself.

It hurt, badly, to know that this was how it had to be, that in the end, only one of them could have walked from the Emperor's chamber; he cursed the Force and lowered his head. If possible, he didn't want to watch anymore. The memory of her kiss and the murmuring of his name would have to be enough for him before he went… on.

"You don't have to, you know."

The sound of another voice was enough to startle Ben into an old defensive stance that had become nothing short of instinct for him. He spun on his feel, bending his knees slightly and reaching for a lightsaber that wasn't there. He didn't know what or who he had expected to see, whether some villain or otherwise, he hadn't even considered that attacking a being of a higher plane then the one he had come from would be pointless.

But when he saw who had spoken, he found shock would have numbed him into near paralysis anyway.

He recognized the old Jedi robes from the holocrons he had studied under Snoke for years; the man who stood just a couple meters away was tall, broad-shouldered and with a mane of brown hair that was handsomely untidy. A scar over his right eye put the contrast of his easygoing smile into full effect. He stood straight and calmly, with hands clasped at his front, lightsaber absent from his side.

The Force whispered a name and Ben knew this to be Anakin Skywalker.

He found himself unable to say anything, but this didn't seem to bother the spectral image of his grandfather whose smile widened. He paced forward and to the side slightly, seeming marvelously at ease.

"I suppose it is your right though, if you want to move on. You've definitely earned it."

Words finally found Ben and the infinite number of questions that spun chaotically in his head chucked one out of his mouth unceremoniously, "What does… this mean?"

Anakin laughed, an unmistakably pure sound. "You did it. You came back. It doesn't happen with everyone who takes the path we did, actually, it's exceptionally rare. But you've earned the right." He gestured and smiled again.

Ben found himself feeling the burning sensation of tears and resentment pulled the words from his mouth. "I called for you. So… MANY times. My parents and Luke and everyone always said the good in you had come back, but Snoke said that Vader was still in the Force. So why… in all those years, didn't you say ANYTHING?"

The last word of his question broke pitifully off and he swallowed down what might have been a sob of his own. Anakin's smile faded at the edges and he looked down. Slowly, he paced over next to Ben and looked past him, looking to be deep in thought.

"I wanted to. Many times. But perhaps you've noticed that the Force has a funny way of working things out."

Ben lowered his tone grudgingly. "The Force… "

Casting him a sideways look, Anakin spoke in a slightly chiding tone. "Oh, don't be like that. This must have been how Obi-Wan felt… "

Raising his hands, he made a broad gesture and the world of pure white dissolved into faces. They faded in and out over each other, some were human, some alien, some wore pilot helmets, some looked frightened, others seemed to be speaking.

"You have touched all of these beings through the Force. Most you will never meet or even see. But because of the choices you have made your entire life, they will be able to live, to prosper. The Force allowed their lives to become that what… "

"Then why did it take Rey?! Why didn't you ever help?!"

Anakin turned to face him now, his expression now pitying and melancholy. "Rey followed her own destiny. She denied the path that was her blood and chose to protect what was important to her."

The multitude of faces faded into that of Rey's. Ben's heart ached to see her smile, the energetic look in her eyes.

"You touched her through the Force as well. Not just by saving her life, but by being what she needed to deny the path to the dark side."

Ben stared at her, wishing he could reach out and touch her and Anakin's hand pressed gently down on his shoulder.

"Nothing lasts forever, Ben. Even stars burn out."

This verbiage sent a chill through Ben that he couldn't quite put a finger on and he turned back to his grandfather who gave him a knowing look. "I have been with you through every event of your life. Every choice you ever made I watched you struggle with. I know that you never were really able to define what you wanted out of the Force and out of life."

"But in the end, you didn't need my help. You had what you needed the whole time. Your mother, your father… "

The haze of faces faded and the visage of Rey holding Ben's body returned.

"And her."

For a while then, silence stood between the two Skywalkers as they pondered what they saw. Then Ben, in a much more reserved tone, asked quietly, "How was I able to bring her back?"

Anakin gave him another sidelong glance and Ben saw the glow of playfulness in his eyes.

"It may have had some help."

The silence returned then and Ben contemplated what was before him now. Not just what he saw, but the path forward.

"I have to move on."

"That's up to you."

Ben turned to look at Anakin carefully. What he had just heard was generating a powerful feeling within him, something he hadn't felt in a long time.

He believed it was hope.

"What do you mean?"

Anakin shrugged and let out a long sigh. "Well, I think if you decided it would be best, you could follow me and we could go take a trip."

Ben found he didn't need to ask where they were going. "Or?"

Anakin's look told him everything he needed to know; the choice wasn't really a choice at all. Silence returned for a short time before Ben asked one last question.

"Will you stay with me?"

And in an instant, Anakin was now accompanied by his own son, his daughter and Ben's father. They all greeted him with warm smiles and when Anakin spoke, he heard the voice of not only him, but of Luke, Han and Leia as well. Their words gave him the peace he had desired just before he felt a great rushing feeling and they faded from his sight.

"The Force will be with you. Always."

'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

Rey screamed as Ben bolted upright from her grip, sucking in the moist air of Exegol's atmosphere. His eyes were wide and looked around quickly as though if he didn't reabsorb everything around him visually, he would never be able to again. Rey fell back on her hands and sat there with eyes just as wide, breathing shakily until his eyes found her again. Ben locked onto her gaze and tried to control his own breathing for a long several seconds just before returning the favor she had granted him just minutes ago.

"Rey."

Hearing him say her voice was enough to break her all over again and she threw herself at him; reaching out with the Force, she fell against Ben and they both fell to the floor, the Force a cushion of her will. She wrapped her arms around him, savoring his warmth, his breathing and the beating of his heart against her head.

"I… I thought you were gone."

"I couldn't leave you. Not after that."

Rey pulled up to look at him and saw that his eyes were both passionate and serious.

"Rey. I saw… I saw them."

Before she could even ask who he meant, he continued. "I saw my grandfather, Anakin. I saw my parents, and I saw Luke."

Ben looked around the hollow cavern that now seemed to house the two of them as its only inhabitants. "They were here. With us."

Rey stroked his face and smiled, clear and as beautiful as the plains of Naboo. "I know, I heard them." Ben looked at her in surprise and she gave a reassuring nod.

"They were the reason I was able to defeat Palpatine. They gave me the strength to control the Force and to… help me realize what I could be." A burning pride shone behind her eyes.

"Then… you ARE a Jedi."

Ben looked perplexed, almost as though he had forgotten something. "And I don't really know what I am."

Rey surprised him then with another kiss and laid her head against his chest once again.

"You're free, Ben."

He absorbed this and then hugged her back fiercely as they rolled to a sitting position and held each other tightly before Rey spoke softly against his ear.

"I knew you would come."

He surprised her then by offering a low chuckle; Rey didn't think she had ever heard him laugh. "I almost didn't make it."

"The Force would have given me the time to hold him off before you arrived."

"I wish it didn't always cut things so close."

It became her turn to laugh and she found herself content to lay against him and let his breathing be the only thing she needed to hear. Maybe ever.

"I don't know if I can go back with you."

She pushed him away and took his shoulders, looking at him intensely and with worry. "Why not?" He swallowed and lowered his gaze.

"I've done horrible things to them. Horrible things to YOU. I've taken lives of those close to you and can't expect to be taken in now."

Rey considered this and lowered a hand to take his in hers.

"Maybe not at first. I don't really know what will come of this. I suppose we'll have to see." She took his chin and lifted his gaze to meet her eyes again.

"But whatever comes of it, I'll be right by your side. No matter what comes of it."

Ben Solo took his turn to consider what had been said.

And then at last, he smiled back at her.

'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

Ben and Rey would remain in each other's arms for several minutes longer before finally standing and working their way to the front of the massive temple. With an arm over her shoulder, Ben limped along, cursing his current predicament and Rey laughing at how glum he was over such a small thing. They reached the outside as darkness was settling on the planet, looking over the TIE-fighter and X-Wing that had landed only a dozen meters or so apart.

It became apparent that neither one of them wanted to leave each other's touch, but with a last kiss and hug, they both moved to their own ships, Ben reaching into the Force to help him walk, not admitting he had only maintained his limp to keep close contact with Rey and Rey smiling as the climbed into her cockpit, knowing full well his façade and its reason.

With a roar of contrasting engines, both craft lifted into the sky, wrecked Star Destroyers lying as far the eye could see around them. A quick swapping of clearance codes allowed the X-Wing to transmit hyperspace coordinates to the TIE-fighter and both ships accelerated before becoming streaks of light that faded against the atmosphere.

All became still within the Sith temple of Exegol again; any being stumbling upon it would likely have not any idea as to the rapturous conflict that took place within less than an hour ago.

The figure however, who slipped from the shadows and made their way to where the two luminous beings in the Force had lain, cried and held each other very recently, was hardly just any being.

Its skill with the Force had masked its presence perfectly and none had been aware of it as it had watched the proceedings within the temple. Tanned robes swept around the figure as it paced to where the Force had performed quite the extraordinary miracle in restoring life not once, but twice, and looked around. Reaching out into the Force, it listened to the echoes of what had happened, doing all in its power to absorb every piece of knowledge possible. Then, it opened its eyes and walked over to a particular piece of ruin that caught its eye.

The destroyed machinery in particular had been the device that had been sustaining the shadow within the Force that the grandchildren of Anakin Skywalker and Sheev Palpatine respectively. They hadn't been supposed to emerge triumphant, but it was sure that its master would take this in stride. After all, what had Sidious been when compared to the being's master?

The figure would depart Exegol itself shortly after, in pursuit of the two heroes of the New Republic. But before leaving the planet, it allowed itself a slight modicum of satisfaction and spat on the ground where what was left of the late Emperor Palpatine had stood.


	2. Chapter 2

_**AN: Holy cow, I would never have guessed that I would have gotten this kind of a response on a story so quickly. Well, if people really are liking it so far, I've got no business not writing while I have the time to do so. Thank you sincerely for this immediate response, I truly hope this can become something special.**_

'''''''''''''''''''''''''''

It felt like just after Starkiller base's destruction again for Finn.

Every way he turned, there seemed to be someone who was looking for a hug, a pat on the shoulder or an eager shouting of congratulations in his ear. He took all of these in stride; having already seen Poe, he was mostly looking for one of the communications and nav specialists. Disentangling himself from a small group of pilots who were bordering on hysterics, he turned away and ran smack into Chewie. Using the Wookie's size to perhaps somewhat hide himself, he grabbed a hairy arm and pulled his massive friend to the side.

"Thank goodness—Chewie, come here." Pulling the Wookie to the side, he looked up seriously, trying to force down the involuntary smile he had been wearing since the destruction of the lead Star Destroyer.

"Did you, or Lando, or _anybody_ hear anything from Red-Five?"

The callsign of the X-Wing that Rey had taken directly to Exegol seemed to have been engraved in his head and Chewbacca's low warbling grunt told him what he needed to know.

"Great," he muttered, looking around. "Well, look, if you hear anything about her from anybody, let me know, okay? I know I felt… I felt _something _but whatever it was, I'm not sure it… whatever it means, I… "

Chewie cut him off with a giant furry hand on the shoulder and he fixed with Finn with a knowing look. Feeling a sudden wave of appreciation for his friend's clear understanding, he gave the Wookie a pat on the chest before making his way off through the uproarious Resistance camp. Through the deafening filter that had become his concern, he heard talk of the Resistance being welcomed back as heroes to the New Republic, that the First Order's remnants had drawn up a surrender agreement, that both Centrists and Populists alike were converging towards Coruscant to discuss the future of the galaxy. Finn heard all of this, but he was far too preoccupied to give any thought towards peace or politics.

"Excuse me, Master Finn?"

The electronically enhanced voice sounded just behind him and he turned as he was about to duck underneath the Millennium Falcon to try and find Poe again. "Hey, Threepio."

R2-D2 beeped intensely behind the golden-plated droid and C-3PO gave the astromech a look before turning back to Finn. "We were just wondering if you might have seen Miss Rey following our return? R2 has something supposedly quite important to tell her and no one seems to know where she is."

The little hope Finn had felt at being addressed by the two droids faded into a glum understanding that it was very likely _no_ one knew where Rey was because she likely wasn't there. "I haven't seen her, no. I don't even know if she made it off the planet." He started to feel a wave of apprehension he couldn't quite put a finger on.

"I'm thinking we should—"

"Hey, Finn!"

Finn turned to see Poe running up to him, a worried look on his face and the former Stormtrooper sighed. "No Poe, I haven't seen her."

Poe blinked at him before shaking his head rapidly. "No, that's not it. Something's up though, follow me."

Out of the oblivious gaze of the myriad of celebrating pilots and fighters, Finn followed his friend into the tent that served as the Resistance's temporary command hub. Inside, he saw a collection of figures, some of which had longstanding relations within and among the Resistance, and others who had cemented their place in the legacy of the war with the First Order in just the previous hours. Maz was the first to turn and regard them as they ducked into the tent.

"Ah, perhaps our former First Order member can shed some light on this."

Internally, Finn winced. He understood that Maz surely meant nothing by it, but it often seemed that half the time he was part of the Resistance, it was just a constant barrage of reminders, both verbal and nonverbal, that he had once been a Stormtrooper. He shrugged it off in stride, "What's going on?"

"Two fighters just dropped out of hyperspace just beyond our atmosphere. One matches the X-Wing that guided us to Exegol." Lando pointed to the screen that indicated the two blinking lights. Finn's heart jumped.

"That means Rey made it!"

Zorii, who had finally taken off her helmet, didn't look nearly as elated. "If it is, she brought company."

Finn looked to the screen once again and looked at the ship IDs. One was definitely an X-Wing with the callsign of Red-Five attached; this further served to return his smile, but when he looked at the other ship's signature, he saw it didn't match any Resistance ship in the slightest. It wasn't an X-Wing, a Y-Wing, a V-Wing, or any cruiser the fleet ran with. He thought for a moment that it must be one of the many civilian ships that had joined the battle, but his past finally caught up to him and clarity clicked the answer into place.

"That's a TIE-fighter!"

"We thought as much… " Maz mumbled this as she turned back to the screen to at Amie, one of the chief strategists and one hell of a pilot. She also happened to be the only one among all of their comms specialists who could code break with any sort of effective speed. "Can you use our tower to hack into the fighter?"

Amie's fingers were already flying across her controls. "Not in the time we have before it's danger close." Lando tugged on his collar.

"This doesn't make any sense. Both ships came out of lightspeed at nearly the same time. The TIE is trailing the X-Wing, but the X-Wing should have been able to pick it up on radar."

Rose was chewing her lower lip nervously behind him. "Her system could have been damaged during all that lightning."

"So you're saying she could be leading an enemy fighter right to us?!" Poe's voice had risen to a frightened frenzy and Finn knew why. If some disillusioned TIE-fighter pilot had followed Rey through hyperspace and was on nothing more than a suicide mission, they were not remotely ready to repel a sudden attack. They would likely be able to bring it down after only a couple passes, but they couldn't get ships in the air fast enough to keep it from strafing their base at least once. Zorii was already speaking at a rate equivalent to blasterfire.

"Scramble as many fighters as you can, we can also get the Corvette's cannon online; if we can get her just a few hundred feet off the ground, we might be able to… "

But even as Poe was starting to scramble to relay her words to the pilots outside, Amie spoke up suddenly. "Incoming transmission from Red-Five!"

Everyone fell suddenly silent for a few long seconds, before Maz looked around in mild frustration. "Well put it through then!"

Amie held her wiring to her ear and punched several commands before leaning and listening closely, eyes furrowed. "It's… it's garbled for sure, I think you're right about the lightning messing with the computers. But it sure sounds like Rey."

Unable to restrain himself, Finn spun away from them and pumped his fist triumphantly; Poe spared him a smile before Amie continued.

"She says she's fine… something about the Emperor being gone for good." A swell of low murmurs traveled through the tent before she raised a hand for quiet. "She also says… do _not _fire on the TIE-fighter she is en-route with. Says it's a friend."

This was enough for Finn who broke into a relieved smile but he could see that his sentiments were not echoed. Zorii was frowning, and Lando looked deep in thought. Maz could have been carved from stone. Poe finally looked around and nodded to no one in particular.

"We need to be ready for anything. I trust Rey but there is still too much in the unknown here." And then he was out of the tent, yelling for Wedge Antilles as the rest of the tent's company piled out. Finn made to be the last one before a look on Amie's face caught his eye. He stepped back a moment before approaching her. The look on her face was one of right confusion and bewilderment; Finn waited until she had banged on the top of her equipment before speaking.

"Everything okay?"

She looked at him quickly, clearly surprised she wasn't alone.

"Oh, it's nothing probably. The instruments just had an… odd reading just now is all."

Finn looked over her shoulder and examined the screen. Seeing nothing of consequence, he looked at her again. "With what? With Rey and that TIE?"

Her perplexed look didn't fade as she pushed in her seat with thoughts clouded behind her eyes.

"No, it came after they broke atmosphere. It was like… like something had come out of hyperspace and then just… vanished."

"That's impossible though, isn't it? Ships with cloaking devices still make one hell of an exit from hyperspace."

"I know that's why it's… odd." Amie shrugged then and looked away.

"I'm sitting here questioning whether or not our equipment that's out of date and in need of repair might just have happened to give me an inaccurate reading. Come on, let's go see what our hero brought back with her."

''''''''''''''''''''''

"_Were you able to reach them?"_

Rey thumbed a few switches as Ben's voice crackled over the X-Wing's fried computers. "I had a connection but I couldn't tell whether or not they heard anything." She put a bit of dry humor in her tone.

"We'll see if they start shooting at us."

"_That's not funny."_

"I know, I'm sorry." She powered down the X-Wing's hyperdrive and placed the thrust engines at their lowest setting; the ship bucked as it slowed to cruising speed and she knew Ben had done the same.

"Just don't do anything that makes you look like a First Order pilot looking to raise hell. Land behind me and don't leave your ship until I do, we don't want you- "

"_I know, we've been over this at least a dozen times._"

To anyone else, Ben's curt reply would have been instantly reviled as rude, but Rey knew that her (_What do I even call him now?_) new companion was feeling just as much apprehension now as she had remembered feeling in Snoke's chamber on the _Supremacy_. He was expecting all manner of violent responses to his arrival and, though Rey wouldn't say it aloud, she was as well. Ben's frigid nerves could be felt even in the warm cockpit of her fighter and she felt a pang in her heart.

Rey couldn't pretend that Ben could be expected to just enter into the Resistance fold after his actions on Exegol. She constantly was having to remind herself that, to the Resistance, she was flying back to their headquarters with none other than the most recent Supreme Leader of the First Order. To her, he was no longer that, now to her, he was much more, but how could she expect the others to understand? To accept this? Under Ben's orders as a disciple of the dark side, thousands had died, friends and family of the freedom fighters several hundred klicks below them. In her heart, Rey was still trying to come to terms with accepting Ben's past deeds as Kylo Ren. She knew he was changed, but she truly didn't know how she was going to communicate that to her friends.

For the time being, however, she knew that it was her job to keep the peace as best she could with Ben now. She would have plenty of distressed beings to worry about within minutes; for now, keeping him as calm as she could would be enough.

"Relax. There will be backlash at you arriving, but I'll make them understand. I won't let them hurt you." She reached through the Force, allowing herself to stroke him with a tendril of peaceful energy. From her cockpit, she felt him destress, if only slightly.

"_I know. I trust you._"

Hearing that made her heart swell again; she prepared the X-Wing's landing gear even as she ignored the fact that while she had just implied she wasn't going to allow harm to come to Ben, she was far more worried what might happen to the _Resistance_ if they attacked him. She dared not voice this and instead opted to add as much levity to the situation as she could.

"Who knows, maybe they'll be so happy that Palpatine is gone, they'll forget you were ever the Supreme Leader at all."

There was a pregnant pause as Rey heard no response over the open comm she had with Ben. Then, he surprised her. "_I don't want them to forgive me_."

This threw Rey for a loop and her hands slacked on the controls as she blinked her bemusement away.

"What?"

"_I don't want them to forgive me. If they can accept that the war is over and I'm no longer Kylo Ren, that will be enough. I don't deserve to be forgiven._"

His voice sounded about to break and Rey wished suddenly that she was in the TIE with Ben to hold him again. "Don't say that, it will take time, but—"

"_Rey, if you… if you didn't love me. If you knew nothing about me other then the fact that I was Supreme Leader of the First Order, had ordered the deaths of thousands of innocents, had murdered Han Solo myself, would you be so ready to accept that I might be changed for good?_"

A hard question, perhaps an impossible one. Not to conceive an answer for, but rather one that she could never answer back to him. Feeling truly helpless, Rey reached into the Force and felt it reply for her.

"Maybe they can let the past die."

She felt his surprise in turn as he heard his own words from over a year ago echoed back to him.

"_Maybe they can._"

'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

Ben sat in the seat of the TIE-fighter, listening to the seemingly endless whine of his engines power down around him as he watched Rey exit the cockpit of Luke's old X-Wing and meet the wave of people coming out of the brush to greet her. In an attempt to control his writhing nerves, he chose to isolate faces and perhaps recognize some of the people he had been sworn enemies with until very recently.

He saw the face of FN-2187; supposedly, he had a name now, but his Stormtrooper callsign would be eternally stamped into Ben's memory as the callsign that made off with the map to Luke Skywalker. He recalled their duel in the forest on Starkiller base, the arrogance and rush he had been feeling at the time. It was a fight he could have ended within two blows, but having just ended his own father's life, there was an almost pungent feeling of hubris that had been stringing him along like a puppet. When the First Order purge troopers had found him and taken him off-world, only then had the grievousness of the bowcaster wound taken hold and he had nearly lapsed into a coma according to the reports.

But Finn had injured him, he would never forget that. A slash on the arm as arrogance had guided the blows of Kylo Ren to be strong, but uncoordinated and slow. The face he saw on FN-2187 then was not the one he had seen before on Starkiller base; now, there was a warrior's maturity there that had not been there before as he rushed to embrace Rey. Instinctively, Ben reached into the Force and probed at the rogue Stormtroopers feelings. They were strong for Rey, but seemingly… confused. Almost overlapping.

Ben would deal with that if he had to.

There too was the face of the pilot who had managed to sucker the map to Luke Skywalker out from under Ben's very nose on Jakku, the one who had escaped with FN-2187 and made his way back to the Resistance where he had returned to being an exceptional pilot. Ben, who prided himself quietly on being a fine pilot himself had seen the footage and had grudgingly found himself almost envious of Poe Dameron's abilities after seeing his work on Takodana. He looked the same as he had when Ben had questioned him as to the map's whereabouts what seemed like a century ago. It truly did seem the more recent part of his life had been some maddening scavenger hunt.

But with Rey as the penultimate treasure, he would have accepted the century of waiting had that been what it would have cost.

Ben watched as the figures hugged, patted and shook hands with Rey. There seemed to be no end to them, dozens upon dozens of beings of different species pouring into the clearing where they had landed and treating Rey to the hero's welcome she deserved. But to Ben, it stopped looking like a welcoming celebration after the first twenty or so beings embraced Rey; rather, they looked like the Woodoo's of Tatooine, predator birds that would take bites out of their prey until it finally succumbed to bleeding all over the body.

Didn't they understand? That she was tired? Hurting? Bloody and battered? What was this, parading her around like some kind of idol, treating her like a spectacle rather than a wounded hero? Ben found himself on his feet within a second, staring out furiously of the cockpit window, wanting nothing more than to rush out and blast them all away from her with a shout out of the Force. He'd show _them_, gawking at and handling her like that, he'd be doing the universe a _favor _if he just…

And then she looked over her shoulder back to him, and his anger smothered itself. He had promised not to exit his craft until she assured him it was appropriate to do so, and he trusted her read of the situation far better than his own.

After all, if it were all the same to him, he would rather just stay put and let them ignore him.

Yet, after several minutes of muffled cheering and shouting, Ben opened his eyes as Rey reached through the Force and brushed his hand.

"_It's time."_

Ready or not, then. Not allowing himself a moment to question whether or not this was a good idea, Ben climbed from the cockpit and into the bright afternoon sun. He could smell the green growth around him as he jumped down from the TIE-fighter, catching himself with the Force; his confirmed to be fractured leg would not have handled that jump down well in the slightest.

The first thing he noticed was the quiet as he looked towards the group of beings clustered a hundred meters away. The world seemed to blur before him as he walked as best he could towards the throng of Resistance fighters. Well over a hundred faces swam before him and he did his best not to look back at any of them in turn. Not able to take the unknown after more than several seconds, he opened his eyes with the Force.

Before him swirled a multicolored mess of feelings, towering like a pillar of fear. Many emotions slipped through the grass towards him, but at their core was fear. Even those jagged spikes of hatred were rooted in the same fear that dominated the rest; feeling overwhelmed, Ben reached for Rey.

In the Force, she was as reassuring as anything could be; amongst the many terrified, spiteful and shocked tendrils that made up the cloud of negative energy before him, he saw her. A towering beam, forever radiant in the Force, she anchored him as he hobbled like a beggar in the undercity of Coruscant towards them all. So strong was her pull that it wasn't until a violent shout shook him from the Force and the reality in front of him set in.

"Rey… you brought… _him _here?!"

A female clad in dark, sleek armor said this, taking a step towards him with all the accusatory motion of a jabbing finger. Her cry seemed to be taken up by others as though they had been waiting as to not be the first to raise voice to their distress.

"That's the Supreme Leader of the First Order!"

"Kylo Ren!"

"Kylo Ren… here?"

"Get weapons on him now!"

Ben closed his eyes as the furious shouts echoed around him, trying to remain calm. He felt the barrels of blasters being directed his way, mounted turrets being swung around; he even felt a stinging tinge in the Force as he sensed the same bowcaster that wounded him on Starkiller base level solidly at his head. He felt them all pointed behind damaged and frightened beings, surely waiting for what they probably assumed was an army he had brought along to crush them at long last.

This would have been an ideal situation for Kylo Ren.

But Ben Solo only stood there in silence, letting the anger of the Resistance permeate all around him. FN-2187's voice carried above the increasingly disturbed rabble. "Rey, what is he doing here?"

Ben heard nothing for a moment and a terrified thought crossed his mind; what if she abandoned him? What if this had all been a ploy, everything he had felt in the Force had been nothing more than a lie, this was just a trick, nothing more than a trap set to finally capture this dark behemoth who had been rampaging the galaxy for years, all to end as they gunned him down in this field on—

"NO ONE SHOOT!"

Rey's voice snapped like an ion cannon and Ben felt the Force in her voice; silence fell immediately. He opened his eyes to see Rey's face, bloodied and pleading as she looked into his eyes from a distance of only a dozen meters but that still felt eternally too far away.

"I wouldn't be standing here if it wasn't for him. I wouldn't have been able to lead you to Exegol if it wasn't for him. The Emperor would have killed me… _all _of us if not for him."

She waded through the tall grass and stood at an equidistant point between the Resistance and Ben. He hated seeing that, almost like she were having to choose between them.

"I owe him more than my life. At both of our efforts, Palpatine is dead and this is where we are now."

Rey case him a gaze laced with passion and Ben's love for her drowned out his anxiety all at once. Whatever happened next, she was with him. The pilot Poe Dameron was the next to speak, sounding almost as though he were on the verge of a total breakdown.

"I… I don't understand this! He's a war criminal! He's a genocidal monster! You… how could you think to bring a monster like that here… and then _defend_ him?!"

Ben found himself entirely unable to disagree with Poe's argument. He heard, rather than saw Maz Kanata who still echoed in the Force like some great mysterious bell, unaware of even its own purpose. Her voice was much more controlled, but her words were perhaps more damning yet.

"Rey. You might have witnessed things none of us will ever come close to imagining. Perhaps you truly believe and maybe even are right to thing that Kylo Ren is no more. That Han Solo's son is with us again."

This revelation sent a ripple of confusion and disbelief through the crowd, but Maz continued.

"But truly, how can you even being to consider that these people, those who have suffered so greatly on his word can accept what you have said?"

Rey was at his defense in an instant. "I'm not looking to change minds. If you are committed to hatred, I cannot stop you. But you're only following a path like the one Ben has renounced."

There was an inkling of desperation in her voice then.

"How can we begin to rebuild if we pick up where the First Order left off?"

For this accusatory question, none of the Resistance had any answer. Ben stood by himself silently and then chose to break his promise to Rey, that he would maintain a quiet during this impossibly fragile process. He had given his word, but the Force was telling him something. Something about himself that gave him not only clarity, but something stronger.

It was hope again.

"If you want me dead, I cannot stop you. I have already long since cemented the legacy of Kylo Ren. For that, I will be hated as long as there are those who know my name, and I accept this. I can only ask one thing of you and it is something I ask of myself: don't take my word that Kylo Ren is dead. Let me prove it."

His hands shook at his side as unbidden tears sprung to his eyes. "Take me to Coruscant in stun cuffs, I'll stand trial for what I've done. And then, I'll do all I can to make up for what I've done. I can't fix this as it is, but I can do my part to rebuild."

Not trusting himself to overstep, Ben fell quiet. He dared not look at anyone, not even Rey. Speaking out of turn like that may well have undermined some plan she had been working towards and he prayed that wasn't the case. Then, another voice, one he didn't recognize called out, "And if we just kill you?"

Before Ben could even react, he felt a sharp gust of wind at the displacement of a human sized shaped and he looked up to see Rey standing just in front of him, facing the Resistance.

"I can't let you try."

Ben wanted nothing more than to take her hand, but the implications of that gesture alone were fractural in the danger they posed to this already near-catastrophic situation. He could tell Rey had hoped this would go better, that her words might somehow sway the people who looked up to her. But he was an expert in hate and knew it was not overcome with anything resembling ease.

So this was it, then. The standoff Ben guessed he had known was coming. It was in the hands of the people he had helped oppress now, people who had every right to want to shoot him dead. It was their choice and it wasn't a choice about him anymore; their hero, the girl who had done the impossible was now standing alongside their most feared enemy besides what had been the Emperor and he knew their disbelief to be near palpable. He truly wasn't sure if they would choose to spare him.

He wasn't even entirely sure they should.

But, even still, if they made any attempt to get through Rey to get to him, so help him, they would never be able to piece together the remains of the poor fools who thought—

"You know, this reminds me of a story."

Ben looked to the right to see a man breaking ranks from the Resistance. A man of darker complexion, he wore yellow underneath a cape with a strong glint in his eyes. He looked every bit the part of a man who had no problem gambling on his own skill.

An awful lot like Ben's father.

"A long time ago, I met a good friend of mine. This friend was incredibly strong, but his father might have even been stronger and worse still, he was on the wrong side. I heard the stories through Han and Leia and Chewie and even from this friend himself; he went to his father and rather than forcing him to return to the good side, he gave his father a choice."

The man looked at Ben unflinchingly who met his gaze in turn, not even thinking of getting a read on this man in the Force. He could see everything he needed to see right here through the words being spoken.

"And I think that he was this kid's uncle."

Maz stepped through the line then and Ben saw her smiling.

"Maybe we could become more then our enemies, Lando?"

The man looked at her and smiled back. "That's just what I'm thinking."

Through the Force, Ben felt a sigh. Not one of relief, but a one that was both so large and yet so brief, it was unlike anything he had felt before. As though hundreds of minds were thinking to themselves, _Alright dammit, if we have to._

Poe Dameron became the third to step away from his people and take a couple measured steps towards Rey and Ben. His eyes were alight with apprehension, but his voice came out clear and steady.

"Kylo Ren—" he started before Rey cut him off.

"Ben."

Dameron eyed her and Ben could feel her defiance.

"His name is _Ben."_

For a moment, Ben considered stepping forward and saying he really didn't _care _what they called him for the time being, but Poe waited a beat and then took a deep breath.

"Ben Solo, I am placing you under arrest by the power invested in me as general of the Resistance. You will be taken to Coruscant where you will be handed over to the Senate of the New Republic to face trial."

A gale of both affirmations and protests went up behind him, but the pilot raised his voice to drown them out. "If you have any weapons, I will take them now."

Open palmed, Ben walked forward and turned around lowering himself to his knees. Steps sounded behind him and he heard the clacking of stun cuffs, but he had eyes only for Rey. She looked down at him and he could see the tears twinkling in her eyes that he was sure shone in his.

Stupidly, he wished they could kiss again.

'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

Rey watched helplessly as Ben was led away, a powerfully tall figure in the midst of the Resistance members keeping careful eyes on him. She was worried but knew Poe well enough that he was going to put Ben somewhere where danger to him would be as minimal as possible.

_Oh, Ben._

She wished to say his name aloud, but her unyielding defense of him before her peers had surely done enough damage as was without them putting together the pieces that their relationship was much more than those of two enemies who had come together to stop a common evil. One day, that might come out and then Rey would deal with it. Right now, she had enough to worry about. Like what would happen to Ben on Coruscant. Like if the Resistance would be traveling there with him. Like what would be expected of her now.

Like what she was going to say to Finn who was walking slowly towards her with nothing short of betrayal glowing in his eyes.

Her words were automatic; just moments ago they had been embracing, but now the air between them was rife with tension.

"Finn, please don't make me do this now… "

"Rey, you can't be serious." His voice was low and measured, but she felt the unrest below that could explode at any moment.

"I'll explain what I can later, for now I just need to—"

She saw it in his face that he was about to become truly furious, but in that moment, Rey found she had never been so glad to hear C-3PO's voice in all her time amongst the usually insufferable droid.

"Oh, mistress Rey!"

Turning without a thought to Finn, she broke into a smile that caused the golden droid to stop in his tracks. "3PO! It is so good to see you!"

She could all but feel Finn tapping her shoulder as C-3PO looked around in what was likely bemusement at her unusual response to his presence. "Ah… yes. As it is good to see you."

He gestured to his side and Rey saw R2-D2 following just behind.

"It is most urgent that you hear this message. R2 says he hasn't a clue how this person was able to transmit directly to him, but he says he believes the message to be of the utmost importance."

Rey tried to imagine who could be transmitting her an important message that wasn't on the planet now to deliver it to her in person. Who did she know that could be trying to get ahold of her offworld? A hilariously unlikely possibility that Unkar Plutt had managed to find her and would be demanding she get back to work scavenging crossed her mind, but she pushed it aside with a delirious mental laugh as she spoke.

"Where is it from?"

"Coruscant, he says."

Coruscant? Rey certainly knew no one there. Could it really be that the politics she had heard so much about from Leia had been this quick to try and work their way into her life?

_The last thing, the LAST thing I need right now is to listen to some uppity Senator who has been in hiding since the First Order showed up, trying to start walking over the people who have actually been doing the fighting and—_

"Mistress Rey?"

She shook free of her mental frustration and addressed him again.

"Did he say who it was from?"

"Ah, yes, well that is certainly the strangest part. I don't know if he heard the message wrong or if he's finally blown a circuit, but… R2 says that a Jedi master is hoping you will hear this message as soon as you are able."


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: One more for you guys before the holiday, hope you're all having a fun relaxing time during this time of the year. Merry Christmas and may the Force be with you!**

''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

The figure looked out towards the brush and trees that he knew housed the Resistance's fragile headquarters. They surely wouldn't remain much longer; in fact, he expected them to depart within the next two days. Now being in possession of perhaps the most wanted man in the galaxy and as surely as the New Republic would want to greet its new heroes, a trip to the city-planet of Coruscant was certainly in their future.

The sky had grown dim in the mid-evening, not that the brightness of shining through the atmosphere would have made a difference to the figure. His cloaked ship would provide him the necessary cover to during any portion of the day, but he now stood waiting for the indicator to flash and let him know his master was attempting to make contact. Part of him wanted to simply wait in the dying light of the jungle planet and continue to reach out through silent tendrils in the Force, feeling for any disturbance within the Resistance encampment, possibly some passion between their hero and their now captive, or perhaps some soldier going out of control and making an attempt on the former Supreme Leader.

A red flicker flashed on his wrist and he offered a gentle exhale through his nose before taking one last deep breath of the pure air on the planet nearly unsoiled by any form of civilization, and ducking into his ship.

The _Thanatos _had been a gift from his master and the figure had spent the past several years modifying it to his liking. The ship was a personalized Star Courier class vessel, one that had been commissioned from the remnants of the Dromund Kalakar shipyard, and had been inspired by the _Scimitar _flown by Darth Maul decades ago. The figure had studied several vessels in training to find one that would best serve both him and his master and the finished result of the _Thanatos_ had been working marvelously for him, save for that stutter earlier that day when he had dropped out of hyperspace and his advanced cloaking had faltered for the briefest instant. He had set down immediately and opened up his scanner, but when no Resistance ships began combing the sector he had arrived in, he allowed himself to relax.

Sealing the ship's hatch and walking around the nav table and projector in the small chamber just behind the cockpit, the figure knelt before the table. In a flash, a much larger than life hologram of a shimmering blue head appeared before him, looking down with all the patience of an aged teacher.

His master wasted no time. _"I have sensed a great disturbance in the Force. More than one in fact, and more than one within a very brief time span._"

Maintaining his gaze respectfully downward, the apprentice said nothing. His master continued, "_I also sense that you were witness to the event that caused this fissure in the Force, my apprentice. What developments from Exegol?_"

"My master, two. I witnessed the battle between Rey Palpatine and Ben Solo against your puppet of Sidious."

"_How did it fare against the pair of them_?" His master sounded genuinely interested. "_After the years I spent developing that instrument, I should hope it put up something of a fight_."

"I doubt there were any suspicions; the dark side's presence on Exegol certainly seemed to amplify its abilities. It managed to batter them very sufficiently until the girl Rey was able to destroy it."

His master didn't seem disappointed in the slightest. "_And yet both her and Solo live_?"

"Yes, my master." He continued before his master could ask what he knew was coming. "While defeating your Palpatine puppet, Rey was killed."

He allowed this to simmer in his master's thoughts and nearly a minute had passed before the conversation resumed.

"_How is it possible then, my apprentice, that you are able to maintain watch of someone who passed into the Force_?"

"She was… revived by Ben Solo."

"_Revived_."

"Yes, my master, revived. I sensed only his presence from where I watched and then I sensed hers again as well." The apprentice had felt the great tremor in the Force that had come when Rey had opened her eyes and sat up to return Ben Solo's embrace. "The second disturbance you felt was Ben Solo returning after draining his own life to save her."

"_And what, pray-tell, was the nature of his resurrection? He was revived by the girl in turn?_"

"No, my master, there was… something else, something almost like—"

"_Like a great many things happened as one_?"

The apprentice blinked downward as his master took the words out of his mouth. "Yes, just like that. It wasn't her, it was something else that allowed him to rise again."

He joined his master in silence as they collectively pondered the seemingly impossible pair of occurrences that had caused the massive rapture in the Force. The apprentice remembered how the twin pillars of pure Force energy had taken him to his knees; nothing he had felt in all his years being closely intertwined with the Force had come even close to the fountain of power that had washed over him at that moment. When his master spoke next, it was with a newfound reverence.

"_This… changes things, my disciple_."

"Yes, master." He pondered whether to speak aloud the words that were dwelling just on the tip of his tongue before obeying his own curiosity. "Master, I thought there weren't any others who knew of anything even remotely similar to your teachings?"

"_The child, Rey's, hereditary bond through the Force may have aided the situation… but for Ben Solo to accomplish this with so little training and so little discipline, this strikes me as most curious_."

"Curious? How is it even possible? It took years upon years for you to even brush the surface of this area of the Force, we should have been more careful, taken the time to meditate and search for any beings in the Force who might have had this ability… "

A calm coldness entered the rumble of his master's reply.

"_How fortunate I am to have an apprentice who feels it appropriate to… lecture me_."

Bowing his head and shaking it slowly from side to side, the apprentice spoke in a much more controlled tone. "Forgive my impudence, master. My frustration with the unknown powers of these two has nothing to do with your decisions in my teachings." His master didn't continue to discuss his outburst and the apprentice assumed this was reason enough to assume he had been forgiven, at least for the moment.

"_This only solidifies the necessity of our continuing to monitor these two as closely as we can. You believe they are returning to the capital_?"

"At any time. Following the return of Rey and Ben to the Resistance's company, I imagine they will be looking to make their way to Coruscant as soon as possible. The connection between the two of them might frighten the Resistance's current leadership into wanting to move Ben Solo into Republic custody as quickly as they can."

"_Ah, yes, their connection. Perhaps the answer to your frustration lies in that very bond_."

The apprentice looked up in polite confusion, "Master?"

_ "My disciple, what do you think that the boy Ben might have tapped into in order to revive the girl Rey?_" The question was posed as a rhetorical one, and with mild irritation, the apprentice realized, he wasn't entirely sure of the answer.

"One or more presences in the Force. Or the hereditary power in the Skywalker line. That, or—"

"_Wrong in both cases, my apprentice. You put too much stock in the traditional energy wells of the Jedi and the Sith. Rey Palpatine and Ben Solo possess something that nary a Jedi possessed, nor a Sith, for centuries. In fact, the last Jedi to utilize this great mortal pull became one of the most powerful Sith to bestride the galaxy_."

The apprentice knew the Sith his master spoke of was none other than Darth Vader and he thought to his studies of the life of the Jedi turned Dark Lord of the Sith, remembering all he could about the man's life.

_Slave on a desert planet and trained as a Jedi well past the usual starting age… experienced his mother's death as a Padawan, and became a hero during the Clone Wars before Darth Sidious, disguised as the Chancellor of the Republic, was able to convince him to turn away from the Jedi Order as he… _

"Love."

Of course. The insatiable love of Anakin Skywalker towards the Senator of Naboo had led him to his final betrayal of the Jedi Order when he aided Darth Sidious in eliminating four leading members of the High Jedi Council. The mother of Luke and Leia Skywalker had passed regardless as a result of a great many factors that the apprentice still wasn't sure of. Love for this woman had been the ultimate shatterpoint for the fall of the Old Republic and the Jedi Order, nothing but _love_ for a woman.

"_Yes, my apprentice, love. Surely you have sensed their feelings towards one another while you've maintained watch on them over the years_."

"I have, I saw their emotions in full on Exegol, but… could their love truly be a strong enough catalyst in the Force to… create life?"

His master gave a thoughtful hum that rattled the apprentice's very bones before he spoke with a clear finality. _"For the time, it matters not_."

The apprentice had to choke down an interjection to this response. Could his master truly believe that this hadn't become a matter of the utmost importance? Nonetheless, the hologram above him carried on, "_For now, carry on your mission as we have previously discussed_."

Though he desperately wanted to carry on their most previous conversation, the apprentice understood that forcing the subject would only cause another admonishment. Instead, he asked, "Have your informants turned up anything regarding the Jedi Temple?"

"_Some things you may find useful. Though the Temple is under strict security, the majority of the patrols take place on the boundaries of the temple property, rather than in the building itself. And to the knowledge of both myself and my networks, Sidious and Vader only turned the Temple into the Imperial Palace, the holocron you seek should still be there_."

"Understood, my master. Infiltration should be of great ease."

"_Be mindful of your training. The girl Rey will also be present on Coruscant_."

It was all the apprentice could do to keep from letting out a snort. "Even if she _could_ sense my presence, do you think she would be a match for… "

'Me' was about to leave his mouth, but he decided to garner perhaps a small bit of favor instead. "… your training, master?"

"_It is not your skill that is in question, but hers. With Ben Solo in custody, she has the potential to be somewhat more… unfettered. I can assume she would want to visit the Temple regardless of your dealings, and you know as well as I, especially after Exegol, that she is a force we cannot properly evaluate_."

The apprentice looked downward, trying to push aside the anger that came about as he had just been called inferior by the being who had been training him for years. When his master spoke again, there was just a hint of delicacy in the rumbling tone. "_Never forget the ultimate flaw of our kind_."

Speaking through nearly clenched teeth, the apprentice replied, "Arrogance."

"_This girl is some amount of untapped power. You saw that she had the ancient Jedi texts, likely acquired from Skywalker. Only recently have we resumed watching her, and we cannot assume that she has not been receiving training from Skywalker's sister. If we are to test her, it will not be when we are unprepared with contingencies_."

Even in his complete doubt that Rey Palpatine would be a match for him, the apprentice nodded. "I understand, master."

Dark amusement was now audible in the hologram's voice.

"_We shall see_."

There came then from the central console of the _Thanatos _several beeps and whines of various pitches. The apprentice didn't need to look to know that his ship's system was detected the firing up of several engines of many different starships.

"Master. I am detecting that the Resistance fleet is preparing to move by sundown, I believe—"

"_Go. Follow them and monitor the pair of them as best you can. Then, make haste with the holocron to my location_."

The apprentice had many more things he wanted to say, at least a couple things he wanted answered, but it was not their relationship to be equally frank with one another. "I understand, my master. May the Force serve you well."

"_And you, my apprentice_."

The hologram flickered off then, but the apprentice remained on one knee longer after the blue glow that had encompassed the cabin of his ship had faded. It was only when the ship fired off a number more alerts and updates that he stood and made his way to begin his pursuit.

''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

Rey considered herself extremely lucky that she hadn't run into either Finn or Poe as she marched hurriedly through the Corellian class cruiser as the Resistance tore their way through hyperspace towards Coruscant. She knew she still owed her friends a better explanation than the one she had given to the Resistance as a whole, but things had been moving at such a breakneck pace since Exegol, there was no time to sit down with them.

But with a pang, she realized that her friends were no longer the most important people in her life.

"Oh, Rey!" The two guards posted outside the makeshift brig that Poe had ordered thrown together reacted to her swift approach with a startled look as they snapped hurriedly to attention. "We weren't expecting to see anyone, let alone—"

"I need to speak to… " Rey bit off on his name. "The prisoner."

The two Resistance soldiers exchanged brief looks and Rey felt their immediate suspicion more than she saw it. "I'm… we're afraid that we cannot allow that. We have strict orders not to let –"

_I don't have time for this._

Morals be damned, Rey thought, as she waved a hand dismissively. "Your orders are outdated."

Immediately, a glazed look washed over the face of the man closest to her and he turned to his companion with a matter-of-fact look on his face before speaking knowledgeably, "Our orders are outdated." As the second guard's brow furrowed in confusion, Rey moved her hand in his direction.

"You are to remain guard while I speak to the prisoner in private."

His eyes too immediately lost their intelligence and he echoed her words robotically back to her. Spending a couple seconds at the controls on the wall, the door swished open and they stood back to her pass. Looking back the way she had come to see if anyone had witnessed her bending the rules, Rey entered quickly when her eyes saw no one.

The room had once been one of the few ammunition storages the cruiser had come prepared with; over the months, it had been slowly emptied as the Resistance's meager supplies were drained and it was now the perfect size to accommodate one single prisoner. Ben looked up at her as the door closed behind her, leaving them in the dim light of one overhead fixture that flickered lazily down on them. His expression which had been nothing short of veiled gloom which lightened immediately; he rose jerkily to his feet and they simply stared at each other for a couple seconds. Then, it became unbearable, and she rushed to him, wrapping her arms tightly around him and closing her eyes in happiness as he returned her embrace.

"Did they hurt you?" were the only words Rey could think to blurt out as tears swam in her eyes at being with him again; it was unbelievable to consider how much it had hurt her just to be apart from him for a few long hours. How would she be able to stand the isolation when the Senate placed him officially in custody?

"How many of them even could?" Rey shivered inwardly as she heard the voice of Kylo Ren reply loftily. "How many of them would even dare try?"

"Don't say that," Rey groaned as she opened her eyes. "You don't… you don't know how much some of these people hate you." Any arrogance vibrating in his tone turned to regret.

"I do. I've been feeling it all evening." In a loving movement that squeezed the tears from Rey's eyes, he ran a pair of fingers from between her shoulders all the way down her back. "I don't imagine you broke protocol just because you wanted to see me."

She pulled away, wiping her eyes and fixed him with a cocky grin. "You don't think I would?" He smiled back.

"I don't think I'd be worth getting tossed into the brig to."

Rey adopted a thoughtful expression and let her gaze drift towards the ceiling. "Now that you mention it, that's not a bad idea… "

The smile on his face lit up her soul. She leaned up and pulled his head to her as she kissed him strongly. For a beautiful moment, everything torturing her mentally faded; her relationship with her friends, the meaning of this trip to Coruscant, even the message R2-D2 had given her in private. But even as she thought of it, she knew time was of the essence. With every second, Coruscant came dauntingly closer. Rey pulled apart gently and murmured against his lips.

"Ben, there's something I have to talk to you about." Part of her hoped he would dismiss this and pull her back into another kiss, but at her words, he too moved apart and gestured to the makeshift bench that served as the only furniture in his excuse for a personal quarters.

"Anything."

They sat and she began talking immediately, and it struck her how bad she had been wanting to tell someone of the message since she had received it. "I received an encrypted message from a Jedi master currently on Coruscant."

Just this was enough to cause his to snap his gaze sharply to her and snap, "What?!"

Rey realized at the shock on his face that while she had been perfectly content taking instruction from both Luke and Leia, she had never once really thought about how she was training to be potentially the last Jedi. Ben on the other hand had spent the majority of his adult life hunting all remnants of the Jedi, culminating in his pursuit of Luke Skywalker. To hear that not only was there another Jedi out there, but to hear that this particular Jedi was no longer making herself hidden was enough to surely cause great conflict between the part of him that was her Ben and the part that still was surely tortured by the thoughts and misgivings of Kylo Ren.

"A Jedi master by the name of Ahsoka Tano left a message for me. The message was very brief as though she was expecting it to be intercepted or maybe she thought it was going to be heard in on by people she didn't want hearing anything particularly important." Rey allowed herself a moment to revel in the fact that not only was there a Jedi _master_ that had come out from hiding but that this same master was looking for her to fill her with hope.

_Maybe this Master Tano has been training Jedi in secret all during the reign of the First Order, maybe she has been since the days of the Empire, maybe it won't just be her and I, maybe I'm truly not alone!_

Ben only said, "Another Jedi is alive?"

Rey blinked and looked at him. "Yes, Ben." His gaze slowly moved away from hers and drifted towards the ground. Immediately, Rey grabbed his arm strongly.

"You don't have to be afraid anymore, Ben. Even if there were a hundred Jedi waiting for me on Coruscant, you have nothing to worry about. There will be no one to hurt you, I won't let anything happen to you!"

She meant every single word she said, and she threw them at him with every hope that her honesty shone through. Ben still didn't look at her, but he shook his head as he spoke, dark hair falling around his eyes. "When… I was Luke's student. He gave me a lesson, I'll never forget. He talked about how to be a Jedi was to be more than the failure they had been before the Empire."

Rey knew where this was going, Luke had spoken to her at length about the same thing. "He told you that the Jedi fell because they made the same mistake the Sith did and let their arrogance blind them to the true threat to the Jedi Order."

He looked at her then, and she felt his gaze decipher that she knew this dark piece of Jedi lore; not willing to let this be the last word, she pushed still.

"On Exegol, you called me a Jedi. Whatever it means to be a Jedi, _now, _in this moment, I will not be like the ones that fell, the ones that closed their eyes to some aspects of the Force in the hollow belief that they were right."

"And if this Jedi pushes these ideals on you anyway?" Ben was looked at her with fear now, the same fear she had seen in his eyes when she had denied him after their battle against Snoke's praetorian guards, and Rey understood. The fear of loss was clamping down on him with brutal intensity, a fear she had been grappling with herself when thinking of turning him over to the New Republic. But he was afraid that he wouldn't lose her in that way, but rather lose her to a broken and blind way of thinking. Smiling, she took his hand.

"I won't change, Ben, not like that. I'm going to be more than that. Besides, do you really think that a Jedi who has survived the Jedi purge, witnessed the downfall of the Old Republic and has been able to survive since the rise of the Empire wouldn't have at least a _few _changes in her thinking?"

Slowly, the fear drained from his eyes and he tilted his head in submission. "I suppose not." Leaning back against the wall, he let his gaze drift aimlessly towards the ceiling.

"I just find it hard to believe that there was another Jedi out there after all this time. I guess I felt deep down that there must be some left in hiding, maybe I just wanted to believe that Luke was the last one."

Ben leaned forward then with sudden purpose as though he had just experienced some great epiphany; Rey watched attentively as his mouth opened and closed a couple times before words left it.

"I think… I think I'd like to meet this Jedi too, if I can."

Rey let her head rest on his shoulder. "When you're free from Republic custody, I'm sure that can be arranged."

They sat in silence for a while longer before she felt Ben move to look at her.

"I don't want you to be worried about what will happen to me."

He continued as she returned his look. "I have accepted whatever sentence is delivered. Though I wish for a chance to prove myself, I can't pretend I won't understand if they decide that perhaps I am… too dangerous to be kept alive."

Rey found herself shaking her head without realizing it. "I won't let them. If they chose that, they would have to kill me first."

He squeezed her hand back.

"You know I could never allow that."

"It isn't about allowing, Ben. I love you."

Just saying the words let her heart sing with a resounding joy that she hadn't felt her whole life. "And that means I am willing to do anything for you. That means dying, if it comes to that."

"I'd very much rather you didn't. I don't know how many times the Force will let us keep one another alive."

Some dark humor tainted his tone and she smiled at what he said, even as she knew he was too; she pushed on after a moment. "I mean it, Ben."

"I know you do. I love you too and would do the same if the situation called for it."

He let out a long quiet sigh. "I guess we'll have to trust in the Force to show us the way."

The maturity of his response surprised Rey and made her affection for him in that moment rise all the more.

"It brought us together. I don't believe it will take us apart."

With a sudden intrusive movement, the door swung open. Rey jerked her head forward to see Finn standing in the doorway, looking down at a holopad with the guards standing behind him, looking confused and distant.

"Alright, Ren, the general will be back here in a couple minutes, I think he wants to ask you a few questions."

Then, he looked up and saw Rey. She was expecting to see the betrayal and resentment that slid over his face, but as his teeth gritted and his eyes widened in shock, Rey had to wonder if her stopping to see someone who was now their prisoner of war was really something so terribly surprising.

Then she realized she was still sitting intimately close with said prisoner, and also holding his hand.


	4. Chapter 4

_**AN: Sorry for the length, but it didn't feel appropriate splitting this chapter up, especially since things are going to start picking up here shortly. Hope you all enjoy regardless!**_

_**P.S. Thanks so much to everybody leaving reviews and sending PM's with their thoughts, suggestions, theories, questions, etc. Those are my lifeblood, you have no idea how much I appreciate them 3**_

'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

Rey sat in one of the pearly, curved chairs that made up the majority of the furniture in the ship's conference room, hands clasped and fingers intertwined. Her gaze never went higher than to regard the knees of the other beings in the room with her as she listened to angry shouts from Zorii and Finn as Poe rubbed his temples. The former was in an uproar about the clear and present danger that was presented by Rey being clearly so favorable towards their prisoner, and the latter was on about how ridiculous it was that only two soldiers had been posted to guard the most wanted man in the galaxy.

Upon seeing Rey and Ben in the makeshift brig, Finn had rushed off with the two soldiers without even giving Rey and chance to offer some meager explanation. Nothing she could say would be enough to keep Finn from practically bringing the whole ship to battle stations and it was only Poe, who had supposedly stopped him from bellowing his find all over the ship, that had made the discussion a much more private affair. To Rey's knowledge, the three of them before her were the only ones besides the two guards who were aware of this breach in Resistance in protocol, though with the way the two of them had their voices raised, it may as well have been the whole ship.

Finally, Poe closed his eyes and threw up both of his hands in a placating, yet firm gesture, "Enough! Zorii, head to the bridge please and have the nav crew send me a fresh sitrep on when we can expect to reach Coruscant. I want to get ahold of the capital well before we arrive, we've had well enough drama as is." Zorii's eyes doubled in size; as she looked to Finn and Rey, mouth looking ready to burst again, Poe cut her off.

"I hope I don't need to remind you who's in command aboard this vessel."

It was clear that this was his last ditch effort to cut the population of the room down a quarter and Rey could sense the worry in Poe that this wouldn't work, but after a couple seconds of heavy breathing, Zorii stormed from the room without so much as a glance at any of them. As the door swished shut behind her, Poe blew a long sigh out from his nose and he pinched the bridge of his nose as he leaned against the table in the center of the room. He, Finn and Rey were left in relative silence as Rey allowed both of them a chance to formulate words to speak. It was not lost on her, as she finally looked up to see Finn adamantly staring at the wall opposite him, that he had not mentioned in front of Zorri or Poe that Rey and Ben had been found holding hands. She wasn't sure if that would hold with just the three of them, but it was Poe who spoke first.

"Rey… help me to understand this."

He looked to her with eyes that were practically pleading and spoke in a low tone, "You have to get how this looks. Yeah, the Resistance came out of this fight with the whole of the free systems backing them up, yeah, we're making a victory lap to Coruscant where the whole of the New Republic's reformed bureaucracy will present us to the galaxy as heroes, yeah, we just took down Palpatine on Exegol—"

"No, you didn't."

Rey had fixed her eyes on the wall ahead of where she sat, not looking at either Poe or Finn, who she could now feel looking at her. She knew her anger was misplaced at the two of them, but she was already so _sick _of what this was coming to.

"_I _took down Palpatine. I took down the threat behind the entire First Order and _let _you and all of our new 'friends' knock out those Star Destroyers."

She heard the emphasis she put on '_let_' and was aware of how terribly arrogant she sounded. But in that moment, Rey decided she would help Poe understand just fine. It was her and Ben who had won the day. And if any postulating heroes were on this ship thinking otherwise, Rey believed that they should be treated to a proper wake up call.

"I don't care if you don't trust Ben Solo, but we have been friends for over a year Poe. Finn, even longer. And I'm telling you that Ben Solo saved my _life _against the Emperor and without him, we'd likely all be dead."

"Rey—"

"And because of that, I don't think it's too much to ask to just _talk _with the person who—"

"Rey!"

Finn's shout pulled her from her almost trancelike ranting. Rey realized that is what it had been, ugly ranting. She looked up to see her two friends looking down at her with complete and utter worry and, worse than that, sadness. As if they had somehow failed her.

Immediately, Rey took in a breath and closed her eyes, letting the fight leak out of her.

_I won't be like him._

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that… "

She looked up as Poe stepped to her and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Rey, I don't value the lives of anyone on this ship more than you and Finn. As a general, I'm probably not supposed to say that, but it doesn't matter. I need you to know that I trust you. If you say Kylo… Ben Solo is just as much to thank, than I believe you."

Tears that were completely unbidden suddenly blurred Rey's vision and she grabbed Poe's hand as its warmth flowed against her shoulder. He gave her a couple moments to let that sit before pushing gently on, "But Rey please, _please_, try and understand how this looks. To everyone else on the ship, in the fleet, they see you come back with the Supreme Leader of the First Order and you seem far more interested in him than anything else."

Understanding, knowing she had had truly understood all along, Rey bit her tongue and looked at Finn as Poe spoke. His face was that of a statue, but she reached through the Force and realized that his emotions and intentions were flowing wild and free for anyone in tune with the Force would be able to read as though they were being projected into their brain. And with another pang that nearly broke her, Rey realized that Finn had no intention of mentioning the most intimate detail he had seen to Poe. She wanted to jump up and hug him and to tell him how much she appreciated her relationship with him, but she opted for the next best thing she could give him.

"I love Ben Solo."

The quiet that followed put the silence of space to the most severe degree. Poe's face became like Finn's had been moments ago, like that of one of the statues Rey had seen in Exegol, hardened and forever pondering. Finn on the other hand, closed his eyes and dropped his gaze; Rey could see the muscles in his jaw working furiously as though what he had been dreading being true had just been confirmed.

Which it had.

''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

The apprentice had gone against his master's wishes and had pushed his ship to the fullest extent that its engines could provide him. Coruscant was a place he had been too many times and the shining world that came out in front of him as he dipped from hyperspace did no more than catch his eye for a moment. As was the usual procedure for Coruscant, he was hailed immediately ahead of entering the atmosphere and he lazily used the Force to punch ahead a series of clearance codes that had been used a myriad of times before. His unusual ship was cleared and he rocketed towards the Foundry section of the planet. An hour or so later and he was speeding towards the central district of the planet and an hour later he was standing completely hidden, watching the docking bays where the Resistance shipped had been directed to land.

Already a sea of HoloNet reporters and excited citizens had assembled just beyond the limits that the New Republic security troopers were keeping a careful watch on. Just next to the landing zone were a large conglomerate of Senators that had come together following the New Senate's destruction by Starkiller Base. They had even more troopers surrounding them then were keeping the thousands of beings at bay. The apprentice wouldn't have been surprised in the slightest if the landing zone was put on lockdown by some overexcited citizens that broke the troopers ranks to get a look at the New Republic's heroes.

Settling in to where he knew that his attention would not go disappointed, the apprentice allowed himself a rueful smile. He could already feel apprehension, curiosity at how the two geysers of Force energy would have changed within even just a day or so had him almost on edge. His master surely wouldn't approve of him not waiting until they were more isolated to observe the both of them, but his master needn't know. For now, all that remained was to wait and watch.

'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

Rey stood on the bridge of the Corellian cruiser, ignoring to the best of her abilities the stares and judgmental thoughts that were impossible not to feel on the back of her psyche.

The end to her meeting with Finn and Poe had been abrupt and dissatisfying as Poe had been urgently called to speak with what sounded like some overeager politicians as they shot through hyperspace. It seemed politics truly couldn't wait and Rey and Finn had been left alone before her friend had awkwardly departed without a word. Whatever it was that either of them wanted to say in regards to her confession would have to wait. Part of Rey wanted this qualm between them to be crushed and swept aside, but she also knew that giving both of them time to process this would surely be for the better. They would be able to resolve this after the slog that Rey had been warned against indirectly by C-3PO.

"Oh yes, it will surely be quite the affair," he had explained to her excitedly. "There will be likely a great many Senators and citizens prepared to greet you and welcome you as heroes! Why I remember coming to Coruscant with Princess Leia after the second Death Star had been destroyed; the fanfare and company seemed endless. I'm sure they will all be most impressed with you!"

To Rey, this seemed highly unlikely. Her wounds had been tended but her clothes that were much more befitting of someone in the throes of deep physical training rather than someone about to make a grant public appearance. That, and she couldn't imagine the amount of beings she was about to be forced to partake in pleasantries with. Though she was supremely grateful to have left the dry, empty confines of Jakku, the Resistance company she had been keeping were more than enough for her as far as socialness was concerned. If she could have her way, she would spirit herself and Ben to the point of some impossibly tall skyscraper where they could just talk and be together. Rey hated how little time she had been able to spend with him.

_Maybe we should have just stayed on Exegol._

_ "__**You don't really believe that.**__"_

Rey was barely able to keep herself from crying out in surprise as Ben's mental touch sounded through her head. The last thing she needed alongside the haze of stares and resentful thoughts were the same people thinking at her to wonder if she was insane as well.

_"You shouldn't scare me like that."_

_ "__**I'm sorry. But I could feel how upset you were from here.**__"_

In the Force, she squeezed his hand.

_"Thank you."_

_ "__**You're not talking out loud, are you?**__" _Ben asked, sounding almost bemused at the thought of Rey doing such a thing. She settled for a gentle smile that no one would likely see as amiss.

_"No, don't worry. We've gotten much better at this since Ahch-To."_

_ "__**Good thing, I don't think I'd be able to survive in Republic custody otherwise.**__"_

Rey realized that she hadn't even thought about the fact that she would be able to spend time with him through the bond they shared in the Force. That was enough to almost make her quiver in delight; having to see him in a holding cell likely even more destitute and isolated than the one he sat in now stung, but if they were going to be able to spend time with one another, that would be make the coming days, likely weeks, more bearable.

Behind Rey, she heard someone call out the time they were about to drop from hyperspace and her momentary joy waned as she remembered where they were about to be.

_"__**I'll let you go, I imagine you'll need to be properly concentrated on this.**__" _Rey realized too that she rather envied Ben's position for the time being. He wasn't about to be assailed with the company and questions of far too many beings she had never met before; to the knowledge of just about everyone on Coruscant, Ben's location had not been revealed in regards to the ship he was being carried in. If any sort of attack was to be made on him, the would-be perpetrators wouldn't know where to even think about striking.

_"Don't worry, I'll visit you as soon as I can."_

As he murmured something unbearably sweet to her as their connection fell silently away, she heard a voice behind her speak up tentatively.

"Um… Rey?"

Turning away from the bright flurry of hyperspace travel outside the wide viewport, Rey looked to see Rose watching her with something that looked like a frightened mix of worry and hope. Rey didn't say anything, but looked to the Resistance mechanic attentively; Rose looked around nervously and as she seemed to realize that Rey was going to be the center of attention for as long as there were other Resistance members on board, she leaned forward and spoke quickly and quietly.

"I just wanted you to know that I trust you and I believe you." Whirling away, she rushed down the few steps of the upper bridge and walked out. Rey continued to look after her, feeling a mixture of regret and appreciation until there was a shout and the frigate dropped from hyperspace and entered just outside Coruscant airspace.

Even if just briefly, Coruscant seemed to capture everyone's gaze and Rey imagined she could look at the planet for hours from their spot just above orbit and not become bored. It was just as it had been described to her, a dark sphere covered completely with glowing orange lines and dots; even from the great distance they still had, she was sure she could see the outlines of mammoth skyscrapers that seemed to push their way outside the planet's atmosphere.

"Probably a bit of a culture shock for you, huh?" Rey half-turned to see Poe standing just behind her, watching the planet with a similar fascination. Any trepidation he had been feeling from earlier seemed to have been dismissed, at least for the moment. Rey turned back and continued to absorb the stretching city-planet before them.

"Have you ever been?" Poe made some noise of discomfort.

"Once. I traveled here undercover just around the time the First Order was really coming into the view of the galaxy. You know, I'm kind of envious at your upbringing over mine."

Rey snapped her eyes to him as he walked up shoulder to shoulder with her, but she had to quickly remind herself that Poe didn't know the past that she had only recently come to be aware of herself. He of course, was referring to Jakku as was made apparent as he continued; she allowed herself to relax as he did, "I remember just being in the thick of it from a young age. I wonder what it would have been like to be that isolated from everything and not have to worry about the 'fate of the galaxy' or the 'rise of the First Order' and all the stuff that was so ingrained in the minds of fighters like me."

Something caused him to smirk ever so slightly, and he gave her a sideways glance, "I don't know if I've ever asked you, but Finn mentioned that when he met you, you said you thought Luke Skywalker was a myth? That true?"

Rey hadn't thought of this in months and it was comical to consider know how truly out of touch she had been on Jakku, especially when considering how that same 'myth' would come to train her not weeks after that same utterance.

"Yeah, it is."

Poe looked back forward and whistled and Rey started to bluster at his humorously condescending reaction.

"Well, look, I'm sure if you had been in _my_ place—"

He laughed and threw his hands up in a sign of peace, "You're probably right, though I rather think that even if I _was_ stranded like that, I'd have kept my nose not as pressed to the dirt as that… "

Rey opened her mouth in mock offense and punched him in the shoulder before joining him in laughing. For a moment, it was one of those perfect moments that Rey so cherished, the ones that could last forever, but as the laughter faded, she sensed more looks than before directed at the back of her head and a bitter taste wiped away her smile. Poe seemed to notice her discomfort and sighed. "Look, ignore everyone else, okay? No one's going to come to terms with this overnight, but this is gonna work out, I promise."

When she looked over and saw his warm smile and the genuine look in his eyes, she felt another rush of appreciation, similar to the one Rose had left her with a minute prior. But as she smiled back at him and they both looked back to Coruscant which was quickly becoming all they could see, Rey sensed his uncertainty and concern for the words she had spoken to him and Finn. She suddenly wanted very badly to bring this back up and have whatever heart-to-heart they needed to have, but the timing and place couldn't have been much worse.

Amie spoke, raised voice carrying above the other dribble of calculations and point plotting

"Incoming communication request from Coruscant, general. Shall I put it through to your comlink?"

Sucking in a deep breath, Poe patted his legs sharply and turned to face her. "Nope, patch it over the bridge speaker, everyone deserves to hear this."

After a moment of silence, there was a flicker of static and then a strong and steady female voice broke over the bridge.

"**Greetings, General Dameron. I hope I find you well?"**

Poe almost seemed thrown off guard at being addressed as such; even after his unceremonious promotion, most members of the Resistance still called him by his first name, such was his relationship with the majority of them. "The wellbeing of both myself and the whole of the remaining Resistance is in good spirits despite the hardships we've dealt with over the past year. Might I ask who I am addressing?"

"**General Dameron, this is Senator Varish Vicly of the New Republic. I am presently acting as standing chancellor until the current crisis of our present situation has passed.**"

There was a flurry of murmuring around the bridge and Rey, despite her very limited knowledge on the nature of politics, she was well aware that the last chancellor of the Republic had been her grandfather who had used that very position to destroy the Jedi Order, create the Galactic Empire and capture the galaxy in a fist of oppression. Leia had told her about this in detail and it was no surprise to Rey that the New Republic had opted in favor of moving their governing body forward without a supreme chancellor. Though, It wasn't surprising that some sort of governing leadership would have to be imposed after the near total destruction of the New Republic's most recent Senate.

"**Save for your flagship, the rest of your vessels may dock at landing zone 294 in the central station, but I hope you understand why we will need you in particular to land at landing zone 14. I apologize in advance for the necessary formalities.**"

Poe nodded as the city expanded below them, miniscule lanes of infinite smaller ships traveling all across the capital and buildings of all sizes. This visual metamorphosis surprised Rey enough to tune out the conversation between Poe and Senator Vicly for a couple long moments as she took in the sight below her. There were more starships in one single blink then she had seen lugged all across Jakku in the dozen years of her life she had spent there. The building seemed to practically be space stations in their own right and as Rey watched ahead of them as they leveled out, she felt a wild rush of emotion as she saw the building that she had seen too many times in holoimages to mistake it for anything else. The Jedi Temple that had been reworked into Emperor Palpatine's personal palace was still as impressive a sight as it must have been hundreds of years ago. There was a very strong tug in the Force that seemed to be drawing her towards it, but Rey could barely admit to herself that she wasn't sure what side of the Force it was.

"… coming up on the landing zone now. I am very much looking forward to meeting you, Senator."

"**As are all of us, General Dameron.**"

Rey shook free of her musings and returned her attention to the situation at hand. The horizon had leveled out in front of them and she watched the rest of the Resistance fleet peel off towards their specified landing zone. As she watched, the landing zone that must have belonged to them came into view. The surrounding area around the platform was made of an incredibly odd textured material she hadn't seen before, but as she watched, she noticed that material was moving.

With a start, Rey saw that the ground was actually a sea of beings.

"Are those… all here to see us?" Poe drew back up alongside her and put a hand on her shoulder in an almost patronizing way as she whispered out her question.

"Eyes up, Rey, you're about to have one hell of a brush with fame, much more than me or anyone else." As she looked at him with concerned eyes, he chuckled. "You know that's how it's gonna be. No one wants to talk to a bunch of pilots, soldiers or engineers."

As they flew even closer, Rey was able to hazard a guess that there must have been _thousands_ of them.

"They're gonna want to talk to the girl that killed Palpatine and defeated the First Order."

Rey shivered as she considered that. Only hours ago, she had been toting those same achievements arrogantly at Poe and Finn, now she wanted nothing to do with them. Couldn't someone else have the center of attention?

"So here's how this is going to go," Poe was explaining, "you have two sides to this political game. Back before the Empire, the Senate was made up of a collective of what was just really Senators looking for their planet to get an equal shake at things and the office of the Supreme Chancellor was supposed to help with that. But I guess over the years they got awful complacent in their responsibilities and so when the Clone Wars broke, they just dumped everything off on Palpatine and, well, you get how _that _went."

Were there tens of thousands? It was impossible to tell, but Rey wouldn't have been surprised as the ocean of beings flowed beneath them as they swung around the landing strip. She now could see a much smaller delegation of people, no more than a few dozen.

"So ever since the second Death Star went down and the Empire was abolished, the Senate was restored, but now without some main governing official of any kind, we're left with two sects of these people. The Centrists, who still believe that the galaxy should remain under a single governing body, and the Populists, who believe that a planet's power should be consolidated specifically to that planet's people… basically."

With a shudder and shake, the cruiser's landing gear met with the floor of the landing pad and Rey had to fight off a flush of anxiety as she wondered how she was _ever _going to deal with all these people.

"Well, anyway, that's the gist of it. And you had better believe both sides are going to try and play you as soon as the pleasantries are out of the way."

'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

Rey was reminded heavily of the brief experience she and Finn had been privy to when Han Solo and Chewbacca had brought them to Takodana. The cluster of people on the elevated platform with them looked to be of a great many races and peoples, though the dress they wore as well as the score of guards that surrounded them indicated these were surely not anyone like the smugglers and drifters she had seen in Maz's castle. She thought how terribly underdressed she must look to these people as Poe urged her forward; to say she felt naked was an understatement as the group of Senators moved towards them in turn.

"You must be Rey. I have been so very much looking forward to meeting you."

It was the same silky yet strong voice that had echoed over the ship's bridge and Rey decided to be proactive, "Senator Vicly, it's very nice to meet you." She took the Senator's hand (_or is that a paw?_) and shook it firmly. Rey imagined this would be the first of what would likely seem an infinite number of handshakes that would come in the next several hours.

The Loneran Senator inclined her head and spoke over the roar of the crowd beyond them as the rest of the Resistance on board the cruiser exited.

"Your victory is most joyous news in such a difficult time. Myself and my fellow Senators here were some of the few survivors who happened to be offsystem when Hosnian Prime was… destroyed. There is much rebuilding to be done yet again, to ensure security in the galaxy and to make certain that no power like the First Order rises again."

Rey nodded in return, ultimately unsure of what to say. She sincerely hoped she was not about to be invited into these political folds; while she was bent on doing her part in the rebuilding effort the Senator spoke of, she could not have been more certain that the political sphere would not be the place to do it.

Senator Vicly began introducing the Senators around her, their envoy of guards breaking off to form a tight yet wide perimeter. Anib Ney was another Populist and spoke in a rapid series of chattering that his translator made sure to relay to Rey were nothing short of sincere gratitude and appreciation for her actions. She smiled at the Sullustan who almost made her giggle at the amount of times he kept bowing, as though he were trying to bounce his head off his own shoulders.

There was Orris Madmund, the first Centrist she was introduced to, who despite his young age, looked perpetually exhausted. His smile seemed sincere enough as he took Rey's hand and shook it gently. He was also the first Senator that Poe grabbed the attention of to pull him away from Rey and she could sense his suspicion of this particular man. Senator Bevicard was another Centrist who conducted himself very courteously with an air that seemed to Rey like he was going to ask to marry her.

"An honor, a _true _honor, a Jedi once again on Coruscant!" Upon declaring this, he had looked around as though daring anyone to deny the incredible occasion this was. Then, he had leaned in with words that were clearly only meant for Rey.

"I pray you will give us politicians another chance. I and others of my belief take full responsibility for the Senate's part in the destruction of the Jedi Order. I can personally assure you that anything you need, _anything at all_, should you choose to begin rebuilding the Order, you will have the support and assets of many in the New Senate, including myself."

Following this up with a smile that was so bright, Rey practically had wanted to look away, she had been saved as Poe once again butted in front of her and shaking Senator Bevicard's hand profusely and speaking loudly, "Senator, so, so good to see you again!"

Rey saw Bevicard's smile slide from his face and she could sense immediately either bad blood with Poe, the Resistance, or both. Over the next five minutes, she met well over twenty more Senators, some of which required forced smiles and others who inspired genuine ones. She noticed that every single one came straight to her first before moving to congratulate the other Resistance members that had flown in on the cruiser with her.

Senator Arbo was almost comical in how over the top he came across with his militaristic attitude and insinuations that the First Order would never have been able to pick up off the Imperial remnants had a stronger force been employed by the New Republic. Senator Nibur seemed rather like an eccentric old inventor; he came across much more like one of the old mechanics that Rey had become accustomed to working around both on Jakku and in the Resistance.

She even saw a familiar face that the Resistance members around her seemed to almost gravitate towards. Ransolm Casterfo had been all over the place as far as allegiances seemed to be concerned, but in the past months, Rey had heard enough from Leia to know that he was as strong a member as the Resistance had, especially after his rocky past with betraying the Resistance. Since Leia had ordered his rescue, he had entered the Resistance folds, insatiable in his desire to prove his allegiance. In the past two months, Leia had sent him back to Coruscant with the intention of having him drum up support in any way he can and though his efforts had seemed fruitless, despite the occasional influx of anonymous supplies, but Lando had confirmed that it was only with Casterfo's considerable aid that he had been able to amass such a great deal of support in their massive ragtag fleet that had arrived on Exegol. Rey had only spoken to him once or twice in the brief time he had spent with the Resistance, but he broke through the throng of Resistance soldiers to embrace her as he might a long-lost sister, babbling thanks in her ear and practically crying as he let her know how proud Leia must have been.

After the endless minutes of exchanges that Rey was surprised at the ones she actually enjoyed, she found herself growing very worn-out. Wondering how much more of this she could take, she managed to step to the side for a moment and considered opening up her bond with Ben, just for a few moments of respite.

"Wearing on you yet?"

Startled, she looked to her left to see a single young man standing near the perimeter of the guards, far enough from them to remain out of earshot, but near enough that he was a fair distance from the numerous Senators making their congratulations and welcomes. Rey was struck by how young he was, he couldn't have been much older than her, if at all. It was clear by his dress, he was not one of the numerous rabble below, whose cheers were beginning to develop a headache in Rey's already cluttered head, but he conducted himself differently than everyone Rey had met so far. He had very short hair and a small amount of handsome scruff and Rey realized he was also the first who hadn't made any attempt to shake her hand.

"I've been dealing with this sort of thing on and off the past couple years, but I can't say I envy the situation you've put yourself in." He looked back towards the thousands of people just down the long set of stairs that went down the landing pad. "Though I suppose it couldn't be helped."

Rey found herself conversing before she knew it; his easygoing attitude was exceptionally disarming and, though she was wary, his demeanor made him the most easy to talk to, more than any Senator.

"I knew what I was getting into when I boarded the cruiser. Maybe it would have been a better call to stay on one of the other ships and slipped onto the system quietly." This was only a half-truth, Rey knew Poe would never have let her skip out on this. The young man seemed to sense this too as he laughed.

"I doubt anyone would have let you. Either your Resistance friends force you to come along or the rest of the rabbling vultures on this planet track you down and drag you into their HoloNet interviews anyway."

He shuddered. "And don't even get me started on the Senators. Politicians are the scariest bunch in the galaxy."

Rey found herself smiling at his perfect read on the situation she had experienced so far. "Much experience with that?" He gave her a look but before he could reply, Senator Vicly came up alongside them.

"Ah, Rey, I see you have met one of the most important people in our rebuilding after this terrible war." The young man looked embarrassed at the praise and looked like he wanted to address this, but the Senator carried on.

"Rey, in the case he is being his usual modest self, this is Arkinn Fasseph of Serenno."

Hearing the name of the planet gave Rey pause, and she drilled her memory at the teachings Leia had given her on the late history of the Old Republic.

_Serenno… very rich planet, wealthy beyond that of whole systems… owned by… who was it? Count… _

Then it came to her and she whirled to face him, eyes wide, "Count-!"

Arkinn Fasseph sighed as though he had been preparing for this. "Dooku, yes. The Dookus lorded over Serenno for many centuries, and Count Dooku was surely the most… how shall I say… infamous."

The smooth dark cape he wore behind him flapped gently as he turned again to examine the crowd. "Serenno was in chaos for many years after the end of the Clone Wars; the Empire clamped down on the planet and the few families that had remained after Count Dooku's death were placed essentially under house arrest. Dooku took his family name to the grave along with him, but it seemed the Empire was suspicious of the entire population, though I imagine now the Emperor didn't want any tales of collusion to surface, now that we know what we do."

He seemed to swell with a gentle bit of pride, "I was able to rein in my planet and put it back on something of a proper track after the Empire fell but the crisis with the First Order made things very complicated."

His dark tone seemed to have made Senator Vicly somewhat perturbed and she gave what Rey assumed to the placating laugh of a politician. "Now, now, Arkinn, there is no need to reflect on those darker times! We are moving forward! In the wake of Leia Organa's heroic actions and those of our heroes here today, we can begin to rebuild, truly."

She then excused herself to return to a conversation with Poe and two Centrist Senators that seemed to be growing somewhat passive aggressive. Arkinn looked after her with something like sympathy in his eyes.

"It's easier for them, to just ignore what's happened and look forward. The systems look to them now, in the present, for guidance and that's where their thoughts belong I suppose."

His tone sounded tired and Rey imagined she looked a lot like he felt. "She said you were one of the most important people in the rebuilding efforts, but you're clearly not a politician. What is it you do?"

Arkinn shrugged, "I give all I can to the efforts of centralizing some semblance of order in the galaxy." Gesturing off in the distance towards a building Rey didn't know.

"Through the banking systems, I've done all I can to fund planet-grown militias, stable hyperspace lanes to systems on outreach, anything I can to try and provide security to places that have none. I hope this will grow easier by a great deal with the First Order being no more."

He furrowed a brow then and asked a question that made the hair on Rey's neck stand on edge, "I heard the Supreme Leader of the First Order was actually captured. Do you know if he's being brought planet-side today?"

It was all Rey could do to keep herself from stuttering over a response and she offered a feeble, "I'm not sure."

"Hmm. Well perhaps it's for the better if we don't make his presence on Coruscant a matter of public knowledge for at least a day or two."

Rey suddenly found herself incredibly anxious.

"I'm sorry, would you please excuse me?"

He looked at her with surprise before smiling apologetically, "I'm terribly sorry, I'm sure you're looking for a chance to get away from all this, I didn't mean to bother you."

"No, I… I actually quite enjoyed your company."

His smile widened gently, and he inclined his head respectfully, "I enjoyed yours. If you're ever in need of… well, anything you think I could give you, you can likely find me in 500 Republica, I'll be there for a good long while as we begin to work this out. If you need any kind of escape, I'll be glad to entertain you."

She half registered this as she smiled and turned on her heel; people rushed by her in a flash, Senators, Resistance members, Republic security troopers, with the ever present roar of the behemoth crowd pounding at her head. Coming under the shadow of the cruiser, she walked up the ramp in a haze, but came to a dead stop as she saw Finn at the top of the ramp.

He was one foot down the ramp and also froze as he saw her. As Rey realized why she was coming back on board, she knew that Finn must as well as he sucked in a breath. With everything aching in her tired body, she hoped he wasn't going to try and stop her.

_Don't do this, Finn, please not now…_

"I heard that the Senators are going to want to say something in front of the crowd soon. You should probably be there for that."

And he walked down the ramp and out into the throng of people outside the ship without so much as a look back at her. Rey remained where she was, letting his act of good will keep her still before she rushed back up onto the near empty ship. She rushed through the vessel, letting the her feelings guide her around corners and down hallways and finally, with a shout in the Force, she blew open the doors to Ben's cell.

He looked up suddenly as light flooded the room and as he saw her standing there, likely not looking any too well, panting and shaking, he rose to his feet.

"What happened?"

Rey said nothing but rushed to him just as she had when she first visited him and hugged him as tightly as she could. He held her back just as strongly and rotated the both of them so that his back was facing the open doorway; Rey gave a weak sob as she noticed his protective action.

"There's something about this Ben, I don't know if it's something in the dark side, or the scale of what's happening or…" Rey gave a shaky laugh, "… or maybe I'm just nervous."

Ben let her shake and regain control of her breathing as the seconds thudded by. "You're going to be okay. I… I feel something as well."

She looked up and he looked down at her with knowing eyes.

"I think it's the Jedi Master who contacted you."

With a rush, Rey realized she hadn't even thought about that since her arrival. Part of her had thought that Master Tano would be waiting for her, but the final part of the message had told her in no uncertain terms where to find her on Coruscant. Very pleased with the idea that she had an appointment to keep that could get her away from this throng of beings, Rey felt her breathing steady.

"You're right. You have to be right."

"Did she say where to find her?"

"I have a pretty good idea."

She almost ran right out then and there, but found herself unable to move in his embrace. Every moment was a drop in her mental pond of peace and ecstasy, but she finally knew that she had to go. The faster she found this Jedi Master, the faster this problem could be solved.

"I'll come back for you."

Ben chuckled gently, "I'll be waiting."

'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

The apprentice watched from a great distance as the Senators put the girl Rey before the great mass of beings who had been waiting so long to hear her speak. They would love everything about her, regardless of how she presented herself; these people desperately needed a hero and the girl who had put down the First Order would be more than enough.

Her words were nothing special, nothing that should have been worth the deafening applause that came, but they could have this, he rather thought they _needed _these words, just as they needed her face, just as they needed the knowledge of what she had done.

He watched her slip away then as she brushed through the large numbers of her fellow Resistance members and the Senators, politicians, and benefactors that were now claiming her as her champion. She pushed away and darted out of sight and for some reason, no one paid her any mind. The apprentice chuckled to himself; she must have been so desperate to get away that a hard dousing of Force energy had been dropped over the raised landing platform and been just the influence necessary to let her escape. He couldn't blame her.

Looking towards the dampening horizon that flickered darker and darker, the apprentice wondered where she was headed. He had already ignored his master's wishes once, could he dare to do it again? Perhaps it would be more conducive to get back to his assignment, the Jedi Temple would likely become much more of interest to the public eye in the coming days and making his business there happen sooner rather than later would likely be much easier. But as he turned his back on the spectacle, he heard something.

It wasn't something he heard in his ears, not the crowd screaming as it became Poe Dameron's turn to speak, not the echoed voice of the Resistance pilot made general, not the distant roar of engines, not as clear and present as his own footsteps knocking against the metal ground.

He heard two voices, voices he had heard before and recently, speaking a single sentence to one another. The first mentioned how much he loved the other and how he hoped she would contact him as soon as she could, and the second assured him she would, after the Jedi Master was made contact with.

The apprentice was gone from the platform in moments, masking his movements, hot on the trail of Rey as she ran towards what very much might be a great deal more important than what his master had sent him to Coruscant for.

Infinitely so, the apprentice thought.


	5. Chapter 5

Though it likely wasn't even near the most luxurious set of apartments that Coruscant had to offer, Rey was able to very briefly marvel at the fact that the building she pushed into was as fit for any being of royalty that she could imagine. Ignoring the spoken drawl of the Ithorian manning the front desk, she was past him and up the stairs before even a single alien question had been sent her way.

Outside, night was falling quickly. Surely the reception at the landing zone was close to finished or wrapped up by then and she would start being sought after. Senator Vicly had mentioned a more private and much more exotic celebration as the whole city rejoiced through the night, but this couldn't be further from Rey's mind as the Jedi Master's presence guided her like a probe droid detecting an electronic frequency. Though her legs burned at how long she had been running, the Force gave her an unending amount of adrenaline as she made her way up several dozen flights of stairs.

In her head, Rey realized she was already talking to this Jedi Master, or at least formulating the thousands of questions she had and pushing the most relevant ones to her at the front of her mental que.

_Why didn't you help us? Where were you when the Order fell? Where were you when the First Order rose? Why didn't you HELP?!_

Furious tears whipped down her cheeks at the speed she moved over stairs, down hallways, through doors…

And suddenly she was there.

Her anger drained out of her as she saw where the Force has brought her.

Rey was standing in a room off an apartment on the top floor of the complex. Simple yet beautiful lights curled dimly around the walls, illuminating the statues and chairs that comprised all things material in the main room. A wide window, rather like that of a view port on the bridge of one of the Corellian ships flown by the Resistance stretched from one end of the sitting room to the other, offering a grand view of many buildings lining the Coruscant horizon. Sitting in one of the chairs and looking out this same window was an aging Togruta, looking unbelievably serene in a violent contrast of how Rey felt; she looked over after a few moments and offered a deeply warm smile.

"Rey. I'm so happy to have finally met you."

Entirely unsure of how to react or respond, Rey decided that respect would be the best option and dropped to one knee, bowing her head, "Master Tano, the honor is all mine."

Rey was entirely surprised to hear the Togruta let out a short, sharp laugh. "Get up, child, this is no time for meaningless postulating."

Jumping to her feet, but no less confused, Rey adopted a respectful stance nonetheless, clasping her hands behind her back and trying to get her breathing under control. Ahsoka Tano watched her for what might have been a minute, looking her up and down with a rainbow of solemn emotions crossing over her face.

"You have had to grow up so fast."

For this, Rey had no response. To her, she had been forced to grow up the most on Jakku, but she understood what the Jedi Master meant. As if in a direct response to her thought, Ahsoka shook her head, "I must apologize for lying to you as well."

Rey dropped her guard slightly and tilted her head. "How do you mean?"

Looking a combination of regretful and apologetic, Tano rose to her feet.

"I am no Jedi."

Rey needed a moment to collect herself after those four words. Part of her wanted to draw Leia's lightsaber immediately. Part of her wanted to laugh. Mostly she wanted Ben to be there with her; he would know how to deal with this. Rey could only stutter.

"I… I don't… "

"Perhaps I should explain myself. I _was _a Jedi."

She gestured to the seat next to her and Rey practically felt herself gravitate to it, lowering herself into it, finding it remarkably welcoming just to be able to sit down. Their positions reversed, she let the shining beam in the Force who was denying herself to be a Jedi talk.

"I was indoctrinated into the Jedi Order at a young age as nearly all were. I was a Padawan at the Temple when the Clone Wars began after which I was assigned to a Jedi general in the field. Perhaps you've heard the name Anakin Skywalker."

Rey's expression told Ahsoka all she needed to know; the Togruta gave a soft laugh.

"Yes, I thought you might. He was my master for much of the Clone Wars. I too had to grow up quickly or the brutality of it all would surely have left me behind."

Her expression darkened and she looked off towards a particular building that jutted from the horizon as a black shape and Rey recognized it to be the Jedi Temple.

"He was the only one who spoke up for me when I was accused of an attack on the Temple. They all believed it to be me and I felt… so disillusioned with it all. Even after I was proved innocent, I felt the Jedi had no place for me anymore. So I left."

It was only a few sentences, but every word seemed to hit Rey like an orbital strike. Swallowing, she shook her head towards the ground.

"I'm not sure I—"

"Believe me? I don't know I would either. It's a lot to take in at the very least." She knelt down next to Rey who had her hands on her knees and was trying not to shake.

"Rey, I'm telling you this because the ones who were considered 'good' were the ones who abandoned me and the one who the universe came to despise as the darkest colossus ever to march the galaxy was the man who was there for me."

A sharp prick in the Force caused Rey to look up. "You fought Vader, didn't you?"

Ahsoka's face became rife with pain as what were clearly dark memories lit danced across her eyes. She turned back towards the silhouette of the Temple.

"There are times when I wonder if I could have done more to reach him. I left him as much as the Order left me."

Rey, feeling very tired all of the sudden, closed her eyes.

"I know where you're going with this."

She could see Ahsoka's smile in her mind. "Then why don't you finish the lesson for me?"

Ahsoka's words clashed with Luke's in her head before melding together to form a thought of Rey's own making; it was as clear a truth as she had ever heard as it left her mouth.

"There is no good and evil in the Force, we are the ones who shape it into Light and Dark."

"Like how you convinced the person now closest to you to sculpt his relationship with the Force into something much more pure."

Ben's name hadn't been said specifically, but the implication found Rey on her feet. She realized she was slightly taller than Ahsoka and she looked with what she knew were wild eyes as she spat, "You don't know what you're talking about."

The expression on Ahsoka's face barely changed. If anything, it grew more serene. "You are very strong in the Force, Rey, as is Ben Solo. But you have much to learn in the way of masking that, just as you have much to learn in masking your bond."

She tilted her head towards the stars.

"I felt it the moment you neared the planet. The two of you are like a river in the Force, two relentless currents, yet the same flowing rush of energy. Force-sensitive beings aren't common, Rey, but a bond like the one you share with Ben is nothing short of an anomaly."

Now Ahsoka looked concerned again as she put a hand on Rey's arm; Rey could still feel the troublingly defensive part of her dripping fuel into the furnace of anger that she had sealed away in her heart. Too much was happening too fast, she didn't even know if she could trust this being; honestly, the apprentice of Anakin Skywalker? It was a truly absurd thought.

"I mourn the Jedi lost in the purge, but I rejoice in the fact their flawed system is no longer in play to try and mold you and Ben. I'm not even sure they would consider doing anything with the two of you, short of locking you away or having you both destroyed. The things Ben has done and what you are… they would surely not accept this."

Rey didn't know where her anger was coming from, but she couldn't keep it from firing the words from her mouth like a blaster rifle.

"And you're so sure you do? I feel what you're trying to say, what you're getting at; you're worried about the both of us might become because of our relationship. The Jedi were weak in never accepting that as validity in their structure and that's why they fell, but I know that even now, you're scared we'll become something more than what they feared could come!"

She stood there, panting, feeling so very good in her frustration and ire. Ahsoka was watching her as a pilot might examine a holomap, eyeing her all over as though looking for some blemish she knew to be there. Rey was about to snap again before Ahsoka reached out and put a hand on her cheek as gently as she had seen Han Solo do to Ben what seemed a lifetime ago.

As though it had never been there at all, her anger dissipated as though Ahsoka had just waved a hand through it and had the cloud of dark fury dispersed as easily as blinking. Immediately, she felt a rush of embarrassment, fear and regret; what had she said? How arrogant had those words been? She shook her head, trying to find the right way to apologize before Ahsoka spoke again.

"You felt it, didn't you? That dark presence?"

Rey had. She knew it before she even thought about it. Something had been there just now, feeding her anger, letting it turn into something more, something dark. Spinning as though expecting the perpetrator to be there, her eyes searched the blank space before her. Ahsoka's words were tired, "I have felt touches of the dark side over and over since I chose to come to Coruscant, to wait and meditate. Whoever that was knows we're here and was trying to influence you."

This sat with Rey and they longer she thought about it, she started to feel angry again. Not the anger she had just been feeling, but an anger she could control and could understand.

"Someone was… trying to turn me?"

"Probing you, I suspect. I don't know if the presences I have felt over the years have been one or multiple, but whoever they are, they have mastered the ability to keep themselves hidden, only offering shallow wisps as a sign that they were ever even there."

She turned away from Rey and walked to the window again, clasping her hands gently behind her back.

"Rey, I have long sensed the dark side growing in power, long before the First Order came to galaxy-wide attention and long before the people of this planet ever heard the name 'Snoke' or 'Kylo Ren'. I spend my days meditating and hiding my presence in the Force, hoping to catch them… but every time I feel just a whisper in the dark… it slips away!"

"How are there any left?! Who would _be _left after the Emperor has been destroyed?!" Rey felt this to be all too worrying; she had assumed that the First Order had held the only remnants of the Sith, but she had to admit that after seeing all the disciples of the dark side on Exegol, this hope had been shaken. But the idea that there was a dark presence nearby, perhaps looking for her, perhaps looking for _Ben_, was enough to send anger flooding her veins. Closing her eyes, she dug herself deep into the Force and as she reached out, she felt the thoughts and Force energy of the millions just within the part of the city they were positioned over.

"Don't hurt yourself trying to find them. Whoever they are, they likely weren't even close, just want you to think they are. Even if they can feel you in the Force, they don't know where you are, I have us both protected from any probing of that nature."

Rey heard the frustration in her voice and watched Ahsoka let out a long, labored sigh.

"I am no longer a Jedi, Rey. But I am no follower of the Sith either. If you believe anything I say, believe _that._"

Rey didn't need to believe it, the Force told her it was true. Despite how hard it was to do so, she put aside her fear regarding whatever dark side user was currently occupying Coruscant. A question posed itself to her then, and she repeated it verbally. And slowly.

"If you're not a Jedi… then why did you want to see me?"

Ahsoka looked terribly alone, looking at her hands as though trying to figure out what to do with them.

"I am no longer a Jedi. But I have a responsibility to the Force. It has been guiding me my whole life, even when I didn't know it. It has had its hands on all of our shoulders, both ours… and others."

"But even despite that, I have only felt the Force tell me what to do in absolute certainty three times. The first was when it told me to leave the Jedi Order… the second was when it told me to confront my old master."

And she met Rey's eyes again, and there was something there that Rey saw as trust. Not herself trusting Ahsoka, but Ahsoka trusting her.

"And the third was when it told me to reach you. To trust you."

After a short time of silence, an unspoken agreement was reached between them and they both sat, facing out the window. An indigo and deep orange gloom had settled over Courscant, the lines of traffic becoming shadows against the colors, matching the black of the towering buildings beyond.

"I can teach you what I know of the Force. Perhaps Leia Skywalker has left nothing left for me to teach, but I am more than willing to share what I have discovered over the years. I can help you mask yourself from Force users who might try and read you and influence your thoughts. I am willing to help you however I can, but you have to understand what the presence of yourself and Ben Solo means."

Rey only watched her, not trusting herself to say much in the case Ahsoka was trying to have her admit to something about their relationship, but it turned out that wasn't where she was taking it.

"The two of you are terribly strong with the Force, but there is something much more in your bond."

"If you're trying to talk about how we're 'unique' in the Force—"

Ahsoka seemed to grow impatient then. "It's much more than that! I'm not speaking of just your power, I'm talking about what it means for the Force! Do you know how you appear to Force-sensitive beings?"

It struck Rey that she had never considered this; she had looked at Ben in the Force before, a dark, shuddering cloud of energy unsure of itself and she could imagine how she looked herself, but the both of them together was something she couldn't fathom. Her realization of this must have been reflected in Ahsoka's eyes who gave her a nod.

"You are the brightest star in the Force together, loud and blding to anyone with even the slightest bit of sensitivity. For over a year now, the two of you have been making the most deafening quakes, you are both practically making the Force itself move."

Rey started to stand and Ahsoka grabbed her leg with gentle firmness. "I'm not trying to insinuate anything or accuse you of anything; whatever you and Ben Solo have between the both of you is not for me to judge."

For the first time, Rey could hear the slightest tones of desperation in her voice that echoed with years of fear and paranoia, "I'm just asking you to be careful, Rey. You and him both."

_I wish he was here now. Hearing this._

It was all too much to take in such a short period and Rey stared blankly down, her mind racing. This was far too much. Another question formed as almost an accusation came from her automatically, "I can feel something else, coming from you. You're struggling with something you're not telling me."

It was an awfully arrogant thing to say, Rey knew, after she was being so reserved about her relationship with both the Force and Ben, but Ahsoka seemed as though she had been waiting to be asked this.

"I have… premonitions. I sometimes see images, or hear things. Often, nothing comes of them, but I know they have yet to pass when I experience them."

"Like?"

Ahsoka looked at her carefully and Rey wondered how much she was encroaching. "I was able to sense that I would battle against my master during my time helping the Rebel Alliance. This came to pass. I had a vision that the Force would be rocked by a schism unlike anything I had felt before. This too came to pass. But mostly, they are just random looks into things and feelings I cannot match to anything, rarely do they ever impact me directly."

Rey cocked her head, "You say things rarely come of them, but I can feel your worry. What do you feel?"

The Togruta's apprehension had been building in the Force for the past several minutes, but it only now appeared as though Ahsoka was looking to it.

"The darkness I have been sensing has been fluxing on Coruscant for the past several years. Some days it is intense and wild, and others it seems to never have been there at all. But now, after so many failed attempts to see, I… "

Closing her eyes, she suddenly reached out her hands.

"Help me."

The Force told Rey what she meant and she grabbed the hands of the former Jedi, closing her eyes as well.

Everything faded away and Rey felt as though she was swelling, up and down, in a great darkness, like the waves on the moon of Endor as she had ridden them towards the Death Star's remains. Slowly, dull and deep rumbles, almost sounding robotic in nature gave way to flashes of dim color and shapes began to materialize in her mind. She could still feel Ahsoka's touch, but it wasn't like she was looking at this with her.

It was rather like she was looking _through _Ahsoka to see and hear.

A great city appeared below her silhouetted black against a bright red and Rey knew it to be Coruscant. She could feel a great sense of joy, but it seemed to be behind where she found herself flying towards. The largest building that she could see appeared before her and she was rushed towards it; Rey let out a silent scream as it bore towards her like a massive monster from some black corner of the galaxy, but she moved through the roof of the building effortlessly like she was made of vapor.

Below her was a massive hall, wide and vast and empty with great pillars the width of starships stretching towards the ceiling. It reminded Rey of a less dark Exegol, but there was still a grand mix of light and dark she could sense that had been built over hundreds upon hundreds of years. She couldn't see anyone within, but she could feel whispers in the Force, speaking of ambition and impatience. As she soared swiftly downward, words began to echo in her head, words she couldn't understand, but she knew she should, these were words she had heard before, she was going to hit bottom and would never know, it wasn't—

"THE TEMPLE!"

It was Rey's voice, but it was though the Force had spoken for her. She was sitting across from Ahsoka again and she knew the wideness of the Togruta's eyes was reflected on her own face. Silently, they both turned to look out into the darkness that Coruscant had become towards the black unmoving colossus of a structure that had just cried out for help.

'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

Ben sat in his temporary holding cell, keeping himself from getting up and pacing for the umpteenth time; if he started pacing, his anxiety could grow, and if it grew too much, he didn't trust he wouldn't blast his way from the confined space he was in to find her.

Poe Dameron had moved him quickly and quietly for which he was grateful. Just after the crowd had left the landing zone to re-watch the statements from Rey, the Senators and the Resistance as well as move to the city center for the inevitable celebration that would be starting shortly. To his knowledge, the case of his captivity on the planet was still a secret to the vast majority of the population. He had been informed that the following morning, he would be visited by members of the Senate at which point he would officially be passed from Resistance custody. It was likely that around then the stories being played across the HoloNet would move from the heroic Resistance to the prisoner they had brought back with them.

The former Supreme Leader of the First Order to be precise.

Ben couldn't find himself caring about this in the slightest, however. All he could think about was how he couldn't get in touch with Rey through their bond. He couldn't even sense her.

_Nothing has happened to her. I would have felt it. She's closed herself off from me and I don't know why._

There was nothing more to it than that, but that didn't make it any better. Ben could at least done with a lightsaber; swinging a blade would perhaps help relieve some tension.

A distant booming signaled the fireworks that began the start of the celebration that would likely carry on long into the night.

It would be a long night most certainly, without her.

'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

A squad of nine Republic troopers were assigned to guard the Jedi Temple, formerly the Imperial Palace, at all times per order of the Senate. The troopers were not the best of their trade, not the most decorated, not the most respected in their field, but they weren't handpicked for those reasons. They had been picked for a great devotion sensed by their superiors to the fallen Jedi Order, a respect and admiration for the Jedi that no longer dwelled within. This made them the most optimal to react to intruders and threats, any motion detected or noise would have them on the scene in an instant. They usually remained close together after a small group of Jedi worshipping fanatics had rushed the front of the Temple and two men had been there to try and stop them until a battalion had arrived less than two minutes later to help.

Nine troopers may not have seemed like many, but they were enough to deal with the occasional intruder that came looking to prowl the premises, and if there were a greater deal of potential of them, there were roughly three thousand troops within two minutes of the Temple to be called over at a moment's notice.

This was assuming they had the time to make that call for help.

The fault of the troopers had been to not immediately place out a standby call as was the standard procedure if any intruder was found on the Temple grounds. This call would cause two battalions to be redirected to the Temple if the call wasn't redacted or updated within sixty seconds. If the guards were taken by surprise, this would ensure that backup would arrive quickly if they were overwhelmed. The squad this evening however was in fine spirits as they watched the spectacle of the lasercrafters finest fireworks in the distance, hearing the distant roar of hundreds of thousands of celebrating citizens. To them, this was probably the best place to watch.

The hooded figure walking up from the bottom of the hundreds of temple stairs was noticed quickly. Shaking off their own celebration quickly, they moved down the stairs to deal with the intruder. One figure hardly seemed a threat and not a single one of them put out a standby call for as they grew closer to the man sized shadow, it really seemed like a situation they could handle easily, in all honesty, the figure almost seemed to exude a calming aura and the troopers smiled at each other, knowing he wasn't going to be much of a problem, in fact he would probably turn and leave immediately, he was surely just lost… the mask he wore was surely some celebratory piece that he had found at the proceedings.

The captain's head had been turned to pulp as some invisible hammer had thrown and smashed him against the statue bookending the staircase. The two men behind him had seen only a flicker of scarlet before a chilling heat had slashed through their hearts and the scarlet flash had flown from the figure's hand to spin like a propeller like the ones attached to Wookie catamarans as though it had a life of its own to cut three more down.

The remaining trio of men had raised their blaster rifles but the figure flicked his finger and as though they had been forced down by a much stronger being, the rifles pointed downward and discharged into the men's feet. Their pain would fade into nothing as the red flash came swinging back into them, returning to the figure's hand and disappearing as the last of them fell. Leaving seared and broken bodies in his wake, the apprentice had moved up the Temple steps at a relaxed pace and entered.

''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

The apprentice knelt in the center of the Jedi Temple's main hall, eyes closed and focusing as intently as he ever had. The Force had bent for him and had probed deep into the Jedi Temple's past and physicality, finding memories of fear and suffering, rooms full of lightsabers discarded by the 501st Legion after Order 66, knowledge that would take millennia to absorb before finding a bunch of glowing pearls in the Force.

It had been foolish of him to try and reach into Rey's thoughts after she had raced into the Savarian district apartments. He had attempted to push on the dark side of her thoughts to try and urge her into accidentally revealing something about where she was and, most importantly, who she was seeing. The apprentice had been ultimately met with a savage thrust back against his probing as something other than Rey's will had flung him aside. He was masterful at hiding his presence in the Force, but this had been a startling development and he had retreated to continue the mission his master had set out for him. Pushing the experience from his mind, he focused on his objective.

_I have you now._

He knew the shining dots he sensed deep within the Temple were the Holocron collection that the Jedi Order had coveted for the thousands of years they had been in power. Some were used for meditation and recollecting, others for teaching, but the apprentice knew that the vast majority of the Holocrons were never used, rarely even spoken of. Knowledge too dangerous for anyone, even Jedi to benefit from. Truly, their arrogance and fear of progression knew no bounds.

Trusting the Force to guide him, he sifted through thousands of the polygonal fist-sized databanks in mere seconds, knowing the one he sought would feel different than any other. After a minute of intent searching, he brushed it and grasped it mentally; not relenting, he twisted and pulled, the Force blasting open holes in walls and zipping the Holocron around corners and through abandoned hallways. After traveling through several kilometers of space within the Temple to be brought up from its depths, he reached out with a physical hand and caught it as the pyramid shape slapped against his palm. Opening his eyes, he stood.

The Holocron was roughly the same size and shape as the 'wayfinders' that had led Ben Solo and Rey Palpatine to Exegol; curious that neither of them had even known they were using Holocrons. The one the apprentice now held glowed with a deep indigo within and he felt a primal desire to open it then and there to become known to its secrets, but knew that would never do. His master would likely sense his transgressions as they were, and he would surely know if the apprentice had looked at the Holocron's contents before him. Swallowing a bitter taste, the apprentice stowed the Holocron and glanced up at the immense hall he stood in.

It was as wide and vast as any building he had been in; the vastness of it reminded him of the tales his master would tell of the Purrgil Ultra, a giant species of space dwelling whale that was over half the length of an Imperial Star Destroyer. His master had once told him of an Old Republic convoy that had gone missing and was originally thought attacked and taken by the precursors of the Separatist movement on Falleen. A minor war might have broken out had a Purrgil Ultra not have regurgitated the remains of several small convoy ships near Geonosis.

_How often they must be reminded they are never truly in control._

Chuckling darkly, the apprentice looked down and away.

"Whatever your plans are, consider them over."

The apprentice's smile was wiped from his face as though he had been slapped by a wampa. He recognized the voice, but still turned to face the speaker, hardly able to believe it.

Rey Palpatine stood twenty or so yards from him, a slim silhouette against the yawning entrance of the temple. She was lit just as he was by the dim orange of the Temple lights that always illuminated the building, the near black of the night sky throwing her into focus. A distant glint in her right hand revealed the lightsaber she had inherited from Leia Skywalker.

The apprentice was stunned. This should have not even been remotely possible, his attunement with the Force was such that someone like Rey would have sounded in his head like the approach of Imperial walkers, loud and ponderous in the Force.

In short, her sneaking up on him was enough to paralyze him a moment.

_How would she know to come here? She was with that rogue Jedi not minutes ago, and she found me here of all places._

Part of him thought that perhaps the immense draw of Force energy within the Emperor's old residence would be enough to bring Rey there. But he sensed more than a sense of being drawn and curiosity coming from her. There was purpose and intent and…

_Anger?_

He remained silent as Rey took a few careful steps his way. She moved with a confidence that brought an involuntary look of bemusement to the apprentice's face, though it was hidden behind his mask. He was beginning to feel a steady flow of excitement throughout his whole body. Surely he wasn't about to get this lucky.

"Whatever your reason for being here, I'm not going to—"

The apprentice interjected, finding his tongue and a fair bit to say as well. The internal workings of the mask he wore disguised his words into sounding as though they were spoken by a much milder and much less distorted General Grievous, which he had modeled the mask slightly after following his studies of the droid general's mastery of swordplay.

"I'm sorry, but are you truly meaning to… what? Try and arrest me?"

Rey took two more strong steps and the apprentice found himself distantly impressed by her confidence.

"If you'll allow me. Or I'll have to disarm you and hold you here until the proper authorities arrive. I'm new to this planet and the customs of a world such as this, but I'm sure that will be more than acceptable."

A strange sensation was brewing in the apprentice's stomach. His master had forbade him from making any sort of contact with either Rey Palpatine or Ben Solo, but he couldn't be truly blamed if the situation was forced, could he? Fleeing wasn't really an option, she would likely catch him with anyway. Rey in particular had power unmatched by anything he had felt in his history with the Force, but her lack of discipline would make a duel between them a beautiful outlet for his skill. Why his master had ordered him so strongly to keep from engaging her was still beyond him.

"Wouldn't a Sith's granddaughter be more likely to join up to pillage this Temple of its intellectual riches?"

Rey didn't openly react, but the flicker of aggression in the Force rippled through the massive hall. Her reply was barely holding back the venom he knew she was regarding him with, "I am nothing like you. You and your kind are a disease in the Force."

His voice rolled out of the mask with a murmuring dark humor. "Noble and bold talk for a girl who has been gifted victory again and again. Tell me Rey, did you ever actually _touch _your grandfather before destroying him? Are you sure that was really him you were fighting?"

Stepping back to rest on his heel and let the words sow whatever feelings they would create in her, he continued, "Are you sure you were ever really fighting anything real at all?"

There was another ripple, stronger and not directed at him, but the apprentice felt the surge of doubt and smiled as she spoke back with a stability in her tone that might have been close to faltering.

"Why should I listen to the word of some Sith worshipping cultist?"

How truly ironic when considering that he was speaking the purest truth he had let from his lips in a long while, and even more so when considering he _was _a Sith. Though it was likely better that he not reveal that just yet.

"Perhaps I ought to be more fair, though," he mused as he threw out a hand and his own shining cylinder shot to his hand from within his dark garments.

From his fist burst a geyser of crimson, snarling and snapping to life, and hissing at his side as he began to pace in a gentle orbit around where she had stopped. Finally, he reached out into the Force and let it churn around him until he reached out with his own strength and molded it to his liking. Thinking to his training, he let himself relax in his knowledge and bask in the cushion of protection it surely gave him.

Rey surprised him then and lunged, a thin obelisk of grassy green extending from her hand. The apprentice hoped this wouldn't go too quickly as she offered him a last threat.

"I've beaten monsters in masks before."

His rebuttal nearly broke her stride.

"Oh? Should I expect a kiss afterwards?"

She reached him quickly and drew the blade back to lead into a thrust that he knew had been coming. The apprentice had watched Rey's horribly clumsy duel with Kylo Ren first on Starkiller base and then again on the moon of the Endor system only days ago. There was no discipline in her movements, only a seemingly endless stubbornness that the skills she had picked up with a staff on Jakku would be enough to measure against lightsaber combat. This would be an absolute joy to lead her on and play with her clumsy, untrained—

Rey's emerald blade didn't push at him in the thrust he expected, instead dipping down and whipping at his hip with ferocious speed. He was barely able to draw back and deflect the strike before it seared into his ribs.

_What?_

She allowed the deflection to push against his blade, thrusting him backwards and then turning the blade back across her body to swing at his shoulder with power he hadn't been ready for. He leapt backward, letting the Force carry him several meters back; he needed to regroup quickly to figure out how best to—

The moment his black boots touched down, she was there in front of him again, having followed his jump with frightening preciseness. He swung towards her in an attempt to push her back, but she met him with a mighty counter slash that broke his guard and forced him back again. He barely had time to move to his right before she fell into a roll towards him and swiped at him viciously.

The apprentice had been so sure she wouldn't be any different then the clumsy warrior he had seen, he hadn't even considered what might happen if she came at him as something completely different. Red and green flashed in vibrant swirls, meeting in cacophonous raptures of the pulsing hum that the lightsabers made on their own. They moved far faster than Rey and Ben had during their emotionally rampant duels and that's when it started to click for the apprentice. Those had been duels fought with emotion and raw power, not skill and precision.

Rey was now bearing down at him with all four.

He realized with a twinge of self-hate that it had been completely foolish to assume that how Rey battled against the man she now was in love with had been anything except a desperate struggle, one side trying to reach the other without harming the other until Rey's open link to the dark side had caused her to nearly fatally injure Ben Solo. Nothing held her back now and it was clear that, whether it had been from Luke, or Leia, or self-taught from the Jedi texts, Rey had become considerably adept over the past year as a duelist.

_Not just adept._

The girl had become masterfully efficient at Djem So, or Form V as it was more commonly known.

The powerful breaking of his guard, the relentless pursuit and desire to keep him from recovering, and the way she seemed to intercept each of his swings and turn their force against him made this evident within ten seconds of combat. The apprentice had intended to engage her with a lazy Makashi performance to try and provoke her into something more aggressive and risky, perhaps to squeeze some of that dark side out of her, but this plan had become a distant memory. Her grace and control was astonishing, unlike anything he had experienced when dueling Force-sensitive beings across the galaxy, and nowhere near the lethargic and inaccurate duel he had watched on the moon of Endor.

The apprentice was starting to think less about enjoying this encounter and more about surviving it.

Because there was something else to her, something he hadn't expected one way or another. Her power was more than just hers, but it wasn't that chaotic energy of Ben Solo he had expected to feel, guiding her and fueling her. Another presence, much more in control and focused in the Force itself was urging Rey onward in her relentless advance on him. The apprentice was suddenly glad that Rey couldn't see his face behind his mask for a different reason than just masking his identity.

She had him on the ropes, and they both knew it.

He caught a glimpse of her face illuminated by his blade as they twirled past each other like murderous dancers and something else became apparent. The dark side was clinging to her with a possessive radiance, something that he had often dreamed about. It was more than just something she had shaped as he had, it seemed to be a part of her rather than something she was using against him.

_The makings of a Sith after all._

This would explain her ferocity and relentless step; Djem So was one of the few forms of lightsaber combat that had often been shunned by instructors at the Temple in centuries past. Its aggressive nature and unyielding style certainly seemed to lend itself more to the dark side than the light, and Rey was proving that here and now.

But this was nothing much less than ideal, the apprentice realized. For he was well versed in the forms of lightsaber combat as well and as he had shifted into Form IV, Ataru, his own personal favorite, he recognized how he could still enjoy himself in this duel. Perhaps even profit mightily from it.

As he leapt high into the air and sent a brutal roar of Force energy barreling at Rey, she dove to the side to avoid it as it blew open a crater in the Temple floor. She rolled away from it with a snarl of exertion and it was her turn to be met with his blade as she attempted to recover; Ataru was just as aggressive a form as Djem So and even faster.

"I can sense your fear, Rey," the apprentice taunted as they rolled their blades with impossible speed, slapping and sparking against one another. "Didn't your masters teach you not to be frightened of the dark?"

Her only reply was a sharp cry of anger and she swung the green blade with renewed vigor. Their duel sped up, their blades becoming ghostly shapes in their rapidity and the apprentice began slamming at her with Force fueled kicks and punches. His blade never landed, but as he struck her with boot and fist, he could sense her focused rage beginning to become unbalanced. Hurting her brought joy to the darkness within him, and as she cried out at a kick he landed on her stomach, he could feel the corners of his mouth turning up to think that he was about to do so much worse.

"You're a better duelist than I expected. Perhaps if you surrender now, I will only hurt you as bad as I have to, not as bad as I would like to."

This was a lie, but he hadn't expected anything close to consideration of this offer regardless. Rey gave a fresh shout of frustration and barreled towards him again, blade dipping and rolling around him like teeth made of raw lightning. Not a blow touched him as his Ataru abilities let him bat aside her blows with a growing ease, the ease he had expected entering this fight. With a final block and somersault over her shoulder, he swung his left hand to backhand her across the face and sending her to the ground. She skidded against the smooth floor and looked back at him with blood dripping into her eye from a cut he had opened. Her body was still recovering from the punishment it had received on Exegol and her growing pain was a pungent, beautiful taste in his mind. Sensing her anger reaching a boiling, final heat, the apprentice knew it was time.

He then began to dip into the style of something just as possessive as the dark side itself, something his master had warned against doing, and something the apprentice felt an addictive culling towards.

Mace Windu's legendary Vaapad form would help her truly understand what it was to suffer.

'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

Ben gasped as he awoke in a storm of anxiety. Cold sweat held him in an uncomfortable grip and he rolled off the slab of metal that passed as his bed.

The thudding booms of thunder still shook the building gently from far off, but something else had rushed him from his fitful rest.

_Rey…_

He murmured her name desperately in his head as the image that had been seared into it when he had closed his eyes returned. Ben had seen her, in a way he had hoped never to, eyes wild and chaotic, teeth bared angrily with the red glow of a lightsaber throwing her face in sharp relief. This had been no mere dream, Ben had enough experience with the Force to know that. But something was very wrong, whether a vision or premonition or something worse had inspired this ghastly image to graft itself against his mind's eye. Accompanying it had been her screaming, her pained and agonized screams, just like the ones he had heard in Snoke's throne room when he had nearly torn her mind open. He had seen more in his dream, much worse, but he dared not even ponder it a second for fear of what the thought might do to him.

Walking to the cell door, he rested his forehead gently against it and closed his eyes. Rey's face was there again before him, but he could see a desperation on her face mixing with the raw fury. She was in trouble, somehow Ben knew this.

Something was telling him through the Force.

He remembered the look on Poe's face when he had walked with the soldiers to deposit Ben in this cell. An expression of perilous trust had been on his face; he knew what Ben was capable of, but was trusting Ben to not use his powers to escape with what would surely be ease. Ben hadn't even sensed any presences in the Force outside the door, not then and not now, indicating no guards were on watch.

Or rather, he was trusting Rey that Ben would stay in check as she had promised.

There was a painful rush to think that his actions may break the trust between Rey and her friends, but between ruptured faith and the safety of the girl he loved, there was no contest.

Ben clenched his fist and the steel door moaned and collapsed in upon itself; reaching out, he threw the door against the opposite wall and stepped outside his cell. He cast a silent apology to Rey for what he was about to do, but felt no regret in his actions as he walked down the dark hallway of the detention center, letting the Force guide him and believing with all his might that the outcome he had seen in his dream would not come to pass.


	6. Chapter 6

Ben didn't make it very far.

The former stormtrooper whom he had learned had taken the name 'Finn' after the two first identifiers of his First Order ID, nearly walked into him as he rounded a corner. Swearing and jumping back to a distance of a solid few meters, he drew his blaster and directed it at Ben's chest. His surprise wore off quickly and settled into something much more reserved; Ben sensed both fear and pride as Finn spoke.

"I somehow convinced myself you weren't going to be any trouble; Poe seemed sure you were going to be a good prisoner and stay put, but I had my doubts. Thought I'd stop by just once tonight to see who was right."

The corners of his mouth pulled back as though he had just tasted something vile, "I should have known better."

Part of Ben seemed to want nothing more than sit down for a heart to heart with his former subordinate and begin the arduous process of building bridges among the beings whose lives he had defiled as leader of the First Order, but he truly didn't have the time.

Rey didn't have the time.

"I understand you and most others find me as someone who is… irredeemable."

Finn snorted, "That's a nice understatement."

As he talked, Ben was already planning his backup plan. He had no desire to kill Finn, though he doubted he would care much if he had to. But escaping custody _and _killing a member of the Resistance would likely make his path to legal freedom unattainable. A sharp twitch of the Force would be enough to disarm Finn and then tap his head against the wall, not hard enough to create a mess but just enough so that the former stormtrooper might suddenly become more interested on the insides of his eyelids then Ben. Still, he pushed his diplomacy as best he could.

"I don't care what you've chosen to believe, but I am not escaping to flee. Rey is in trouble."

_That_ certainly was enough to get Finn's attention; Ben felt a surge of protectiveness flush through him as he watched Finn's eyes glaze over as he considered these words.

"How do you know?"

It would be impossible to explain the bond that he shared with Rey, but if Finn was any kind of sensible, he would know the strength of the Force and what it allowed those strong with it to be able to do. As Ben had left his cell and moved forward, the Force had begun to clear the overwhelming haze that had settled on him since arriving at Coruscant. He couldn't reach Rey but the Force whispered where she had gone and it wasn't where she had went to visit this Jedi Master.

"I can feel the danger in the Force… she's gone to the Jedi Temple."

"Why would she be there? She should be celebrating with everyone else at the city center…" Finn was starting to look suspicious and Ben felt he was losing him.

"If she doesn't get help, I… "

The words '_I know she'll be hurt_' resounded in his head, but even though they likely would have had the most effect, he couldn't stand the idea of saying them aloud, "… I know something bad will happen."

The words sounded terribly ineffective, but Ben watched Finn's blaster arm waver ever so slightly.

"You're sure of this."

Though Ben nodded his assent of this, Finn hadn't posed it as a question. Somehow Ben could tell that Finn knew he was telling the truth. He looked inward then and to his own surprise, he saw a flickering well of confusion and worry in the Force that was the man in front of him. Whether this was a new development of if he had just never seen it, Finn was a vassal of the Force; a mere flickering holotorch in comparison to the overwhelming fusion torch that was Rey, but he was there shining nonetheless. The Force instructed him then as how to proceed and though he hated the thought of it, Ben complied.

Surrendering himself to trust in the Force, and despite the screaming in his soul to run for the Temple, Ben waited to see what Finn would do.

'''''''''''''''''''''

Trying to bat down the fear that was swelling within her, Rey deflected a flurry of blows from the masked figure before being forced to give ground and spin away, catching a blast of Force lightning in her side that sent her mind into agony as she tumbled back several dozen yards. As she picked herself up to meet the charge of the man before her, she fell back into her studies of Form VI that Leia had spent months getting her to master.

From the outset of their duel, Rey had felt the confusion and surprise from the dark side user as she assailed him with the most comfortable form she knew, Form V. There had even been a moment where she felt herself on the precipice of _winning _before the man's fighting style changed drastically and while his movements seemed to remain the same, the flux of his power had become a new beast entirely. The aggression and passion she had been putting into her strikes seemed to no longer be projecting from her lightsaber; they rather seemed to be _bending_, being turned back at her.

Whatever she was now fighting against, Rey was being forced to couple it with her own wrath which surged from her in a harsh loop that twisted to meet her. It was the most physically costing struggle she had ever undertaken and she could tell her body was starting to reject the strain she was putting on it.

That, and Rey could feel the power Ahsoka was lending her begin to dwindle alongside her own and she began to seriously wonder if she was about to fail.

"Did you not think there would be more? That child Ren and that puppet of a puppet, Snoke, did the Skywalkers lead you to believe that the dark side hung only between those two threats?"

She could hear the taunts but they seemed to come from behind her rather than from the repentless masked individual before her.

"You've dome nothing but fight proxies and pretenders… how are you liking your first taste of an actual Sith?"

_Sith?_

Even through her overwhelmed psyche, Rey felt a part of her wonder over that possibility. The trappings all made sense; the clothes, the mask, the arrogance and provocation, the blade the color of searing blood. But as she fell back in what felt like weaker and weaker defense of his assault, the fear became stronger that he might be telling the truth.

Rey couldn't have tried to probe his mind for the truth, even if she hadn't been terrified of what she might find; the dark figure had become a blur in the Force, greys and blacks mixing together in an awful stain on her mind that she couldn't see past. She wanted to cry out for Ben, even if just to let him know how much she loved him before what she was starting to think was inevitable happened, but she hadn't the focus to try.

The Force seemed to be slowly seeping from her, her arms were growing heavy and burning as each strike against her lightsaber nearly buckled them at the elbows. The Force only seemed able to keep her blocking strike after strike, just managing to keep her alive, but just barely. How the masked man was able to redirect her energy in such a way, Rey couldn't fathom.

"I must ask though," the shadow of a man mused as he slapped aside a sluggish blow she attempted and Force-pushed her into one of the pillars lining the Temple hall a hundred feet away. His words were distant and wavering as she gasped in pain and fell to her knees.

"What do you suppose will happen to Ben Solo after you're gone?"

From her hands and knees, she looked up to see him walking slowly towards her, a black colossus in the Force.

"If I'm right, and I have no reason to doubt myself, you seem to be his only defender. Without you, I can't imagine his trial lasts longer than a couple days before they drag him out to be-"

Rey hardly heard the scream of rage that flew from her throat as she launched herself at him, attacking with a violent new frenzy. She felt his will shudder ever so slightly as she delivered an overheard blow that caused the ground beneath their feet to explode outward in a radius around them the width of a starship. The Force was suddenly with her again, strong and raging just as she was and with ease, she tore chunks of stairs the size of banthas and threw them at his back. The masked man was forced to turn slightly and catch them in his own Force grip and with even that slight distraction, Rey saw an opening and with a sharp twist, she reversed her grip and swung towards his head—

He barely had to move to avoid the strike as he slashed at her, burning a laceration from her left shoulder across to just above her right breast. As she heaved a vicious gasp at the sudden trauma, the Force twitched instinctively in Rey and blew away everything around her, including the shadowy figure who landed on his feet effortlessly a dozen yards away.

Rey looked down at the black searing line across her chest, and was reminded sickly of when she herself had injured Ben on their fight in the snowy woods of Starkiller base. It was a terrible and odd pain, unlike the lightning of this man or her grandfather, this awful burning seemed much more raw and her eyes seared with tears of pain. She realized she had dropped to her knees as the Force whispered a warning and she brought Leia's lightsaber up just in time to deflect a slew of Force lightning that forked from the free hand of the masked man.

"Truly, if you were all they claim you to be, would this contest not be reversed?"

His words laughed darkly in her head as the blue spikes of energy blasted the lightsaber from her hand, leaving her unprotected from an onslaught of blinding pain. It was as painful as anything she had ever felt, as though every part of her body was being slowly pulled apart at the seams and Mustafarian magma was being poured into the gaps. Rey knew she was screaming, but the awful screech of the Force lightning made it impossible to even hear herself.

And then it stopped.

Rey rolled onto her stomach and gasped for air; her whole body seemed to be throbbing as she brought her shaking hands against the cold smooth floor of the Temple, trying to force herself back to her feet.

The man stood a distance away still, regarding her with the apathetic gaze of the mask. His blade was angled towards the floor, casting it in a brilliant red.

"Strong. Dangerously strong even. But your training is incomplete." He began to stalk in an open circle around her just as she had minutes ago. Swallowing bile, Rey made it to her knees again; glaring at him with open contempt, she tried her hand at an insult of her own, a last attempt to break his concentration in the Force

"To hell with you. Leia taught me more than you'll ever know. Like how to resist the dark side, something a slave like you has clearly failed at."

She dropped her head and resumed panting, trying to block out the sound of the supposed Sith laughing.

"You are quite the dark side specimen yourself, despite what you say. I've fought Jedi before Rey, and you are much closer to myself then you were any of those self-righteous fools."

Rey threw the words like the hate she was trying miserably to suppress, "I'll never be like you!"

"No? Will you be a Jedi instead? So sure you can, with the fact that Jedi aren't allowed attachments?"

With a roar, Rey struck at the Force and it sang in tune with her frustration by sending a wave of pure power slinging it's way towards the masked figure. It struck him dead on and he went to one knee; for a moment, Rey believed that she might have a chance. Then, without rising back to his feet, he raised his angled mask to regard her with a cock of his head.

"Or perhaps, you've given up on that. Tell me, if he loves you so, why hasn't he come to help you? Why would custody by the lowly Republic army mean anything to his power and desire to be with you? To keep you safe?"

He rose and lightning crackled around his left arm, "Why don't you ask him? Go ahead, reach out. You've got quite the bond with him, if I'm to understand. I'm sure he would be more than happy to die alongside you, no?"

Rey shouted a curse at him that would have made even the most vulgar scavengers of Jakku blush. He didn't seem to acknowledge this beyond raising a hand. Gritting her teeth, she braced herself for the pain, but it didn't hurt any less as her body was once again wracked with the most terrible stabbing pain. She rolled back to the ground, arching her back as she tried to stay conscious.

"A shame. It will be interesting to see how long you last… we have all night, and no one to hear you scream."

Somehow the pain ramped up and Rey thrashed on the ground, hopelessness and a blinding sense of abandonment setting in. She was alone, despite Ahsoka's warning and blessing of Force energy, she had failed, no one knew where she was, Poe and Finn were likely at the celebration, Ben was locked away…

_Oh, Ben… I'm so sorry. I love you so much._

And as she mentally whispered these final thoughts, something so impossibly thunderous sounded through her head.

"_NOOOOOOO!"_

"NOOOOOOO!"

A scream of unbridled denial pounded against her ears and mind, different but of the same voice and as she heard them both, the Temple shook with an all-consuming rattle, the floor, the walls, the pillars all quaked in response to this gargantuan tremor in the Force. The voice was one, within her head and rebounding in a loud echo off the walls and as the lightning and pain faded again, Rey felt a great rush, as though a capital cruiser had just engaged its hyperdrive above her. Blinking away her anguish, she saw the result of that feeling as the bellow in the Force that had just rushed by her, leaving her untouched, thundered in a storm of power at the masked man and blew him into the air. For a moment, he remained suspended in the air, a thrashing shadow, before he was thrown against the stairs behind him, blowing them apart at the speed which he met them. He disappeared from sight behind rubble and dust, buried by the wreckage his passage had caused.

Faintly, Rey felt a presence behind her, a real one that didn't belong to the masked man who had just brought her to the brink of madness. She didn't need to look, she barely even needed to feel; with the last of her energy she had in that moment, she pushed herself limply to her feet as she turned and collapsed immediately. But she didn't fall back to the ground she had just left.

Ben was there.

He caught her and held her in a fierce grip, holding her so close to him it was as though he believed she would disappear if he released her. A shaking hand gently brushed the side of her face as she heaved in air weakly. Through her exhaustion and through the pain that still ached at every part of her, Rey reached out and grabbed his head, pulling him into a kiss. She didn't care if anyone saw, she needed to _feel _him this way, to know their love was all she needed. After what she had just endured, a moment like this seemed fleeting and far too occasional.

He broke away from her, his voice sounding as terrible as Rey felt, "Why didn't you tell me… ?"

It was impossible not to hear the betrayal, however faint, in his low tone. If Rey had possessed the strength to sob, she would have.

"I'm so… so sorry, Ben. I never meant… for this to happen." Her words came in between her thin, sporadic breaths. He gripped her tighter and whispered in her ear.

"Please… never do anything like that again."

She closed her eyes and granted herself a moment to try and relax. Being in his arms was enough for her in that moment and she let a tear leak from her eye as breathing became easier. Ben rocked her gently in an attempt to calm her and Rey found that it was working.

The heap of rubble ahead of them exploded and Ben was barely able to raise a hand and cast aside the chunks of stair that would have hit them otherwise. As they dropped harmlessly to the ground around them, Rey saw the Sith stagger from his would-be grave. His arrogant and taunting demeanor had vanished, leaving only billowing thrashes of anger and apprehension in the Force.

"Love?! You think I can be bested by love?!"

Fresh lightning speared from his hands and Ben reached out and caught it with the arm that wasn't holding Rey. Weakly, she reached into their bond to lend him what strength she could and in their connection, she could sense more than a desire to defend.

Ben was out for blood.

Leia's lightsaber rested somewhere out of reach and sight, but nestled in Ben's arm, she heard it snap to life over the muffled roar of the deflected lightning. With a whirl the color of a sunlit forest, the lightsaber swirled and ripped towards the masked man who caught it in the Force a half spin before it would have cleaved his head in two. Ben kept pushing and for several long, cacophonous seconds, the lightsaber and lightning both attempted in vain to reach their goal.

Rey, having given all she could, closed her eyes against the light and prayed the Force would find a way to bring this to an end.

'''''''''''''''''''""''''''

The moments that followed slogged by in a haze for Ben, as though he were only semiconscious and witnessing it from afar, though he knew the savaged Rey he held was real and the shadowed figure ahead of him was also real. The lightning that he was barely managing to stave from hitting them both was real and the lightsaber he forced towards the figure's head was real.

But through it all, the Force was trying to speak to him.

Through it, he somehow knew this fight was already over. Everything that was happening was just detail being filled in that had already been decided.

Ben felt a great amassing of beings just outside the Temple and he could tell that the figure he was engaged with felt it as well. As though coming to some mutual understanding, the lightsaber dropped to the floor and the lightning stemmed away into nothingness. Ben regarded the stranger and heard the words he spoke, but couldn't seem to quite comprehend them. The blade the color of raw flame snapped off into nothingness and the pair regarded each other a while longer while Rey breathed shakily in Ben's arms, eyes still closed. The figure turned and disappeared into the darkness of the Temple, his presence in the Force vanishing just as quickly.

Ben felt what was likely over a hundred New Republic battalion troops marching in as the figure dipped away, he felt Finn run up alongside him and demand in a scream who that had been. Ben heard himself say that had been the man who had killed the soldiers patrolling outside and who had fought and nearly killed Rey. Ben watched as Finn looked down in pain at Rey's battered and barely conscious form before directing this information to the several battalions he had arrived with. Ben felt the troops disperse into the Temple just as he felt that they would not find the dark side user. He was aware of finally having Rey pulled away from him by a medical team and finally he felt blasters directed towards him as he was shouted demands. He felt the snap of electrobonds snapping his wrists firmly behind his back

His comfort was a whisper from Rey in the Force thanking him and promising she would find him soon, as she was carried away under intense scrutiny from at least a dozen Republic medical officers. His agony was knowing he was being taken from her again. He supposed he had expected this as he was led from the damaged innards of the Temple, likely under a much more vigilant eye than before.

And through it all, the Force told him it was the way.,

Ben was aware of two very distinct things as he let the Force enact its will, however. First, that despite the flow of Force energy Ben had let course into her and despite the good he had felt it do her, the slash across her chest that made his eyes tear up just looking at it, hadn't healed in the slightest. It had remained, scorched and savage.

The second was what the dark side user had snarled at the pair of them before he had disappeared.

"_**The pair of you might think you have something, taking refuge in that old Master Tano. Ask her about Ezra. Maybe that'll clear up a thing or two."**_

Who this Ezra might have been, Ben hadn't a clue, but the name "Tano" had rang of something familiar and vaguely nostalgic. In his musings as he was led away, he felt as though the Temple itself was speaking to him. The Force may have been offering him a warning or whispering its thanks, but after everything that had just transpired in such a short period of time, all Ben's focus could do was return to the fact that he was being taken from Rey; anger blackened his vision.

Again.

''''''""''''''''''''''''

Rey walked purposefully across the plaza before the towering building that was 500 Republica. It was all she had imagined and more, it didn't surprise her remotely that the wealthiest and most powerful political and influential figures might reside there. She ignored the looks she received as she passed, allowing the Force to gently ripple out of her and convince any that might recognize her as the hero of the Resistance that they were simply mistaken.

The previous night had passed in a blur and the morning following had been nothing short of a cluster of chaos. After the masked figure had vanished into the dark of the Temple, Rey's last thought before being sedated was that of feeling Ben's presence fade away; the energy he had given her would have been enough to keep her up and active through the night but the medical team had clearly thought otherwise and she had awoken in a medical rest room early that morning, her body feeling much less ravaged and no longer smelling of ozone and blood.

Poe, Finn and Chewbacca had been there when she woke up, the most latter having immediately pulling her into a monstrous hug, though she would have preferred the rough treatment to the bombardment of questions that had come her way. Poe had launched them intermittently before stammering apologies that he hadn't kept a closer eye on her and Finn had only questions about her wellbeing. She had explained the best she could and withheld that what seemed more dangerous in the open than safe in her mind.

Only moments after she had been able to catch her breath, C-3PO had shuffled apologetically into the room, Senator Vicly just behind him. After stating warmly but firmly that she required the room with Rey, and after Senatorial guards were forced to escort out an uncooperative Finn, she had taken a seat across from Rey as they were left alone and in silence. The pearly white gleam of the room and all its accoutrements made Rey feel like she had to squint.

"This has made things very complicated, Rey," the Senator had said tersely. Her fur-covered hands were clasped in her lap, and this with her straight backed posture had made Rey feel very much like she was just another political talking point.

"On one hand, the public is even more in love with you, if that could even be possible. A mole in one of the battalions let leak that there was an attack on the Jedi Temple by Sith acolytes that you and you _alone _repelled."

The stress on the word 'alone' was made very obvious.

"On the other, we have the issue of Ben Solo."

Rey had immediately burst into furious words and the Senator waved her down.

"We have the testimony you provided by both you and the witnesses at the Temple, the guards I mean. The accepted truth has been that at least one perpetrator was repelled by your efforts."

"Without Ben, I would have _died_! Just like I would have died without him against Palpatine!"

Senator Vicly seemed strained, "I have been made privy to the fact that you and Ben Solo have become… close, as a result of the war. But the fact remains he broke from our custody after General Dameron requested that we leave him under no guard on account of his trust in you and your trust in Ben Solo in turn. I and others agreed, prematurely clearly, in an attempt to be amenable. And regardless of his actions, the only thing we know for sure is that he escaped custody. Which will be the tip of the spear in the accusations brought against him tomorrow."

Rey was barely able to stutter out, "… tomorrow?"

"Yes, his trial begins tomorrow. The public has been informed of his captivity and the attention has shifted quickly as you might have imagined."

Vicly had a great deal more to say, but it all became very inconsequential as it rebounded in and out of Rey's head. All she could do was stare blankly down until the Senator finally excused herself. Left alone for a free more seconds, Rey had immediately begun trying to devise a way to turn the trial in Ben's favor, but nothing came. Her friends had returned then, but their words were just as empty to her. Eventually, they had seemed to understand her desire to be alone and had moved to leave in a somber fashion. Just before Finn was the last one out, Rey had blurted out a brief word of thanks which he acknowledged only by stopping briefly and then exiting.

Left to her thoughts, Rey felt minute after minute slip by and realized there was… nothing.

Nothing she could do with all her power in the Force, nothing she could do to try and convince the friends she had distanced herself from to help, no one she could talk to, not anyone in the Resistance, not the Senators on Coruscant, not Ben, whom her efforts were for, not even Ahsoka; what good could a former Jedi provide in the way of swaying an amalgamation of militaristic and political proceedings in this trial?

But as she began to settle into the despair that she might very well be fighting a hopeless battle, a thought had come to her. There was _one _person she had met in her day on Coruscant that might be of some help. So after demanding exit from the medical facility, she had slipped away unnoticed yet again and had taken a public transport to the closest place she could manage to 500 Republica.

The journey through the city had passed in a blur of color and motion, with Rey doing her best to go unnoticed. Distantly, she was able to marvel at the technology and modernity that surrounded her, the same things that these beings who walked and flew past her surely took for granted. What she would have given for even the lowliest speeder that zipped around Coruscant back on Jakku. She had shaken free of these thoughts and returned them to the task at hand as she focused on the suites that harbored the most enviable beings in the galaxy.

This was the building she rushed towards now, already trying to imagine what she was going to say to begin this dialogue. Walking into a sloping, maroon carpeted lobby, Rey walked through the room that stank of comfort and luxury to the arching, ornate door that led to the apartments and was met by a large, commanding looking man. His dressings were those of what looked like considerable wealth too, Rey imagined she could pawn his coat for a starship.

"I'm sorry, can I help you?"

Rey had dressed in spare clothes the medical staff had provided and they were very openly civilian, not those of someone who was likely to grace these halls.

"I need to see Count… Lord… Arkin Fasseph. I need to see Arkin Fasseph."

He cast her a dubious look, and the electrostaff in his hands seemed to twitch as an extension of the man's will, "Baron Fasseph is surely preoccupied with matters of higher importance than sociability. What cause do you have to request an audience with him?"

The way he talked, the description of Arkin was nothing like what Rey had understood from the young man she had met on the landing platform the day previous. Forcing down her frustration, she tried a different tactic.

"I need to speak with him; after we met yesterday, he requested I come by to visit."

The man's dubious expression darkened.

"Unless you can bear proof of that, I cannot let you pass. I can't imagine the Baron requesting the presence of some civilian girl."

Rey prepared to snap rudely at this man and his already insufferable attitude before reminding herself why she was here. Taking in a long breath, she prepared to reach into the Force and work him to her liking, but before she could, a tired yet smooth voice resounded behind the guard.

"Are the guards of these suites so narrow minded as to think so?"

Rey stepped to the side as the man turned to get a glimpse of whom she already knew had spoken. Arkin Fasseph walked his way down the protected hallway, black boots tapping against the sturdiplast floor and synthleather cape flapping gently behind him. The guard spoke over Rey's greeting loudly.

"Baron! I thought you were retired to your suite for the day!"

Arkin looked at the guard with a frown.

"I wasn't aware I was supposed to make my doings known for your personal inventory, Orsihn. Leave her alone, the hero of the New Republic deserves better."

The guards head snapped to regard Rey, and she slowly saw recognition begin to dawn.

"Wait… you're—"

Arkin waved a hand as he brushed past the guard; though he was not as massive as the man known as Orsihn, he radiated control much more strongly.

"Yes, yes, and she doesn't have time for your gawking surely, either."

Walking up to Rey, he offered her a short bow.

"I meant my invitation, though I must say, I hadn't expected it to be taken up so quickly."

So relieved to see him Rey was that she almost found herself at a loss for words. She chose to cut to the chase as fast as possible.

"I need your help."

His eyebrows flicked up ever so gently and he looked back at Orsihn.

"Have the valets prepare my personal transport; I want the engines hot by the time I reach it."

The guard paused for one more second, eyes looking at Rey with a newfound reverence before he retreated around the corner to appease this order. Arkin turned back to her, "I'm afraid there is an opera and play I must attend at the Galaxies Opera House. After a brief occupation left the Mon Calamari homeworld in a destitute state, I was one of the ones who offered my resources to the rebuilding efforts. This will be the first time the Mon Calamari have performed at the Galaxies since before the fall of the Empire and though plays aren't quite my taste, I really must attend as they are putting it on in my honor, among a few others."

Of course, Rey thought. Why wouldn't there be some matter that would keep her from siring his aid? It all came back to politics and favors, favors and politics, she couldn't expect him to understand the upheaval she was dealing with, the pain she was feeling and the help she desperately needed to ask of him. It wouldn't have been such a bad thing perhaps, if the First Order had just committed to destroying this blasted political system once and for all when they had—

"But you're more than welcome to join me. I imagine the hero of the New Republic would be quite welcome."

Rey blinked and looked at him with an unblinking, hopeful gaze.

"Are you sure?"

He smiled and inclined his head again, "Of course. Would you follow me this way?"

Rey followed him to a tunnel that sloped downwards with a long strip of dark blue light overhead, illuminating their steps with a hue as deep as the bottom of an ocean. As they walked, Arkin resumed speaking.

"I heard about what transpired at the Temple during the celebrations last night. You truly are a marvel, just when I thought the public opinion of you couldn't grow any more glowingly positive, you go and battle of some Sith disciples at the most holy place on Coruscant."

Looking down, Rey bit her tongue; she wanted to tell him the truth of the matter and had a feeling she would have to before their company together was finished.

"I've long advocated that we put the building under more careful surveillance and protection, but there were arguments that doing so would damage the 'sanctity' of the place. We'll see what those of that mindset have to say now."

The hallway opened up into a broad spherical room of massive size. From top to bottom, it was likely the width of a Star Destroyer. Nestled in niches all over were speeders of all size and kind, and the starship enthusiast in Rey was struck by the variety and quality of every single one she turned her gaze towards. As they neared a drop off, a sleek black and gold speeder with two fine leather seats decorating its open cockpit interior pulled up and a Bothan climbed out, panting as he did.

"Baron! I'm terribly sorry if I'm late, the call just came over… "

Arkin raised a hand and offered the same polite smile he had just given Rey, "Not a problem, you were right on time."

Rey took his hand as he offered it to help her into her seat and though she desperately wanted a chance to drive it herself, she sat politely on the passenger side and enjoyed the comfort of the seat as best she could as Arkin eased them out of the giant spherical garage and into the open Coruscant air.

The trip to the opera house was uneventful, save for the peace that the ride brought Rey. For several minutes, she could feel the open air, and gaze at the spectacular architecture that stretched out as far as the eye could see. The engine of Arkin's craft hummed a calming rhythm and the leftover exhaustion from the prior day's events may have taken Rey off to sleep had the trip not been only ten minutes at most.

Another valet took the speeder away as they stepped onto the wide open area looking towards a large, arching entrance to the opera house. As Rey saw a multitude of beings flocking towards the building, she became aware of how horribly underdressed she surely was to be at such a place. Arkin seemed to sense her unease.

"Don't worry about it. Just take my arm and no one will bother you."

Rey did so and let him escort her up great staircases into the opera house. Many beings did turn to regard her as she entered and she could see that most seemed to recognize her. But for whatever reason, perhaps the grace of the Force or the etiquette of opera-goers and socialites, they didn't go out of their way to address her, doing nothing more than wish her a good evening as she passed. Arkin received several compliments and thankful comments as they made their way into a large circular hallway. He replied to them briefly and politely but made no effort to start a conversation. After walking a long way around the open corridor, Arkin gestured for her to enter a small entrance after him.

The passage took Rey into a small box with four seats that were but a tiny portion of the arena that made up the opera house. Spherical and massive as the garage of 500 Republica, the lighting of the place was a soothing and dim purple. Beings packed the stadium seating and in the center of the room were giant liquid orbs within which swam the Mon Calamari dancers. A low rumbling choir became audible that would likely have caused the very arena to rumble had it been much larger.

"Take a seat, please."

Rey did so in one of the incredibly soft and velvety seats and Arkin lowered himself into the one next to her. For minutes, Rey allowed silence to hold between them and was content to watch the dancers and listen to the bass of the singers. It was darkly therapeutic, though she hadn't an idea of the context of what she was watching. Arkin spoke up as the song and dancing broke temporarily, giving into a smattering of polite applause that echoed long around the opera house.

"This first part is the telling of an ancient soldier who has returned home after winning a great battle only to find his people have been taken over by a tyrannical hierarchy. His wives and family were killed in one of several purges and he finds their bodies in the remains of their home."

Rey watched him, seeing the flickering purple of the stage and room dance in his eyes.

"He finds the general of this heriarchy who ordered his family killed and they meet atop a great underwater mountain to settle things. The general is terribly misguided by the prophets of this time who have turned his fear of losing his people into a terrible weapon."

"What happens?"

Arkin smiled sadly, "They kill one another."

The impossibly low singing returned and Rey let the words Arkin had spoken rest between them before her anxiety and desperation caught up to her.

"I can't let them have him be executed."

He didn't reply or even look at her and as the seconds ticked by, she wondered if he had even been listening before he spoke, words slow and careful.

"Ben Solo you mean?"

Rey dropped her head weakly into her hands.

"I don't know how it can be stopped, but they're going to have him killed."

Arkin let a much longer pause follow as he stroked his stubble absently. Rey looked back to the dancers, praying he wouldn't have nothing but silence to answer her problem.

"To my knowledge, he has done a great many terrible things."

Rey had to catch herself to keep her voice down; shouting during this performance would likely be most rude.

"He has changed. He abandoned the First Order to help me defeat the returned Emperor Palpatine and… "

She didn't know what information would be qualified as classified, but she surged forward anyway as her voice caught on what she was going to say.

"… and he broke free from his captivity to come to the Temple last night and save me."

Arkin looked at her then, brow furrowed thoughtfully.

"Oh?"

Before she knew it, Rey told him the whole story of the previous night's events, from her arriving at the Temple to when she passed out after the battle. She neglected to mention Ahsoka as well as the true connection she shared with Ben in love, but made sure to mention he had used his own Force energy to try and heal her. When she finished her retelling, she watched Arkin carefully for any reaction, for he had been polite and quiet during the entire story. Finally, he brought his interlocked fingers up to his face to rest his chin against them.

"This… bond you mentioned."

Rey had to keep herself from starting in surprise. She couldn't recall having mentioned anything about the bond she shared with Ben.

_Did I?_

Had she blurted this out as well, in her desperation to get this great burden off her back? Perhaps she had. Either way, secrets such as that felt very unimportant in the grand scheme of what she was trying to accomplish.

"Yes?"

He let out a long sigh through his nose as he thought something over, "This is a bond within the Force?"

Rey nodded.

"And in the Force, you are able to… pardon my ignorance, but _heal_ one another?"

Arkin sounded genuinely curious and Rey turned her gaze back towards the great spheres of water that hung in suspended space. If she told him about this, this truth, there would be no turning back. She would have to accept that she was betting Ben's future on trusting this financially and politically powerful young man whom she had only met yesterday. But Rey knew it was her only option and she closed her eyes.

"Yes."

He hummed softly to himself.

"I see."

Drawing himself up and sitting up straight, the shadow of a smile crossed his face.

"I've done a great deal of research on the Force, on the Jedi and the SIth, particularly before my family took over the fortune of Serenno after the Dookus fell from power. It was all very interesting stuff to me, but in all my readings, I can't recall every hearing of two beings… how shall I say, _intertwined_ in the Force with the power to heal one another."

For this, Rey had nothing to say. She waited for him to continue, hoping this discussion of the Force could be turned back to the matter at hand.

"Has this been something that has happened before?"

After a long pause, Rey told him of the duel she had experienced with Ben on the moon of Endor. She avoided details of the pain and conflict they had both felt while fighting and instead opted to change the narrative slightly in the truth to avoid casting aspersions on the relationship she was trying hard to keep under wraps.

"… as I ran him through with his own lightsaber, I felt a change in him in the Force. It's… difficult to describe, but I knew then that something had changed within him, about him. The Force helps you see these things, and I realized he wasn't the Supreme Leader any longer. He never truly had been. Only a young man, strong in the Force, who had been raised on broken ideology and lies."

Arkin was deeply invested in her story; he had been watching her with great interest since she had started talking of their duel.

"Like he was some sort of victim of beliefs that weren't his own?"

The accuracy of this was perfect to Rey and she nodded firmly.

"Yes, exactly. When I touched the wound, I was able to heal him. I had never felt anything like that before, I'd only been able to heal wounds previously that weren't grievous, that weren't anything life threatening. But in that moment, I felt our bond through the Force."

As she finished talking, Arkin leaned back, pondering what she had said. She continued to watch him, frightened deep down that he would start dismissing her as crazy any moment, but he didn't; instead, he gave a slow nod.

"You know… there is _one _story I can remember reading about during my studies of the Force. Something that sounds a fair bit like this actually."

Genuinely surprised that this was the case, Rey asked, "Oh?"

"Yes… a story about a Sith who went by the name Darth Plagueis. It went that he set out to find a way to influence the Force to keep the ones he wanted to safe from injury and ultimately safe from death."

Rey had never heard of this in the few Sith she had been taught about by Leia.

"Did he succeed?"

Arkin scratched the back of his head with another frown, 'I don't actually know. I suppose he must have, or his apprentice wouldn't have killed him. Why kill him without having his knowledge?"

Rey wracked her brain, trying to think of something in her teachings that had spoken of this.

"Do you know who the apprentice was?"

Letting out a soft chuckle, Arkin nodded.

"I do. Supposedly, his apprentice was Darth Sidious."

Rey inhaled sharply at this. Keeping her surprise at bay, she fought down fresh tremors of anxiety at the thought of her grandfather being heir to this knowledge. It would make sense though, wouldn't it? How he had returned?

Arkin said, "Though it is just what one might call a Sith legend. I don't know if there was ever any truth or success from his pursuits in the Force. It's a great shame that we now know so little about these stories and people as there is so little left to study or examine, let alone these tales."

He was right. Of course they were just stories, they had to be. Darth Plagueis was likely some ancient Sith whose tale had been reworked and rewoven into the history of the SIth for their own benefit. It would be just like them to lie about their own past for the sake of purporting their superiority in the Force.

Sighing, Arkin lowered his head.

"I'm sorry for getting off topic… but Rey I can tell you what will happen tomorrow."

Also remembering why she had accompanied him to the opera house, Rey looked to him quickly without a word. He saw her expression and regret flashed over his face.

"The Senate is in a place of deep disarray right now. The Populists and Centrists are as divided as ever, but this is their first real chance to decide on something important. They've had to cling to the shadows after the First Order rose, but now, with the public watching intently, they are about to sentence the man who is about to bear all the blame for the First Order's crimes."

Rey opened her mouth as tears of frustration sprung to her eyes and he raised a hand, looking even more tired then.

"Fairly or not, this will be the case. But I can tell you this: the Senate doesn't care about whether or not Ben Solo is guilty."

She stared at him.

"What?"

He pulled a face, "Let me rephrase that: the Senate only cares about his guilt if they find it more beneficial to have him executed."

Rey's mind rattled as though the rumble of the Mon Calamari singers was shaking her very thoughts, "I don't understand."

"Rey, if they find a reason that makes keeping Ben Solo alive more beneficial to them and their New Republic then the good faith they will gain with the public for having him killed, they will do so gladly."

A strange warmth was spreading through Rey's body all the way to her toes.

_Is there hope?_

"Beneficial how?"

There was a pause, and Arkin smiled gently.

"I may have some ideas."

They both sat back then, letting the weight of the situation settle appropriately. Rey thought about how fortunate she was to have met Arkin, someone who seemed to not be willing to let the prejudice of wartime propaganda influence his thoughts towards all sides of an issue. But as Rey felt gratitude flood her body, she realized she found it very strange that Arkin had immediately referred to her love as Ben Solo without her ever mentioning his name.


	7. Chapter 7

_**AN: **__**Assuming this works, I have been waiting THREE days to post this… website was being squirrelly for everyone apparently, but terribly sorry for the extended delay nonetheless.**_

_** Taking some of the Matthew Stover techniques of describing a Star Wars character at the core of their being at certain moments; super good writing device in my opinion, but if it looks familiar that's why.**_

_**Hope you enjoy!**_

'''''''''''''''''''''''''''

The voices that echoed around the Senate hall seemed to meld together in a dissonant rush of negativity, or so it seemed to Rey as yet another list of war crimes thundered accusingly out of the mouth of some Centrist that she had already forgotten the name of. She stretched her back slowly, wincing as her chest pulled and the wound from the lightsaber seemed to almost crack along the burnt skin. Rey had been treated with bacta patches and was currently sporting a strip of dermaseal under her clothing that been gifted to her by several supportive Senators after being checked to the chief medical facility after her agonizing night. The dermaseal was helping, but her wound was still burning numbly whenever she turned her attention to it.

She sat in one of the Senate pods that were technically reserved for distinguished guests, but as the Resistance members in attendance were likely all to be called as witnesses, they were more so serving a double purpose. In the pod's other three seats sat C-3PO, Ransolm Casterfo, and a Senatorial guard who seemed to be there more so to take up the extra seat. Rey had spoken with Ransolm just before the trial began and though he had always had a nervous air to him, he had seemed much more so that morning.

"This doesn't make sense to me. Why they're splitting up Resistance witnesses like this. Every listed witness of ours has at least one Senatorial guard taking up a spot in their pod, hell, Poe Dameron is by himself with _three._"

Rey had asked if he had any guess as to the reason and he had looked back nervously at the man dressed entirely in blue who sat behind them, rifle slung across his back.

"My guess is that they don't want any of the witnesses talking to one another, for whatever reason. I can't figure why, I would assume if they're trying to have the Supreme Leader of the First Order burned like they must be, I imagine witness collaboration would be more than beneficial to that end."

Rey had pondered these words as the trial had officially begun, deep down wondering if perhaps this had been the workings of Arkin, making some last minute pull to try and aid the proceedings in Ben's favor. But her minor shot of hope had been quickly dashed as the charges were brought forward.

The list never seemed to end. Rey had known this was coming, but still hadn't been nearly prepared enough to hear the grievances herself. Conspiracy for crimes against the peace, unprovoked invasion and occupation, atrocities ordered and carried out against entire populations and the massacres…

Rey had put her head down to ensure no one could see her crying silently as she heard about every massacre the First Order had carried out in their pursuit of galactic domination. She knew Ben had not been the one ordering every offense, but the tears came not because they had occurred, but because she didn't know if she would be on his side had he not been who he was to her. And so after over an hour of charges and another couple hours of evidence as well as witnesses brought in from planets that had been occupied and attacked by the First Order, Rey finally had a reason to look up from her misery.

Senator Vicly alongside Senators Nibur and Bevicard occupied the central pod and were the ones in charge of the proceedings. Next to them, Senator Arbo barked out calls for quiet and order when the hundreds of beings within the Senate chamber began to loudly murmur that sounded in a dull rumble. He called out now at the urging of Vicly, "The Senate recognizes the head general of the Resistance, Poe Dameron."

Three rows over and a dozen columns up, a pod detached itself from its place on the wall inside the Senate hall and drifted gently forward to be brought into the view of all. Rey couldn't see from where she was, but she could feel Poe's presence above her, apprehensive and reserved. Senator Orris Madmund who was questioning all witnesses brought forward, spoke then; Rey had been surprised to see him so involved in the trial, but his tired appearance seemed to be nothing more than a guise for an unassumingly powerful voice as he asked questions of all with a strong and unbiased tone.

"General Dameron, in your years as a Resistance soldier and during your brief period as a Resistance general, what has been your understanding of the Supreme Leader's tactics, from both a militaristic perspective and moral perspective?"

Rey grit her teeth. She had heard this same question posed to a myriad of Resistance members, from pilot to leading officer and she had yet to hear a reply that was even the slightest bit encouraging. And as painful as it was to consider, she had to imagine Poe's answer wouldn't be that much more positive in Ben's favor.

"Your Graces, if I may… I'd like to say something."

Blinking, Rey started.

_What?_

Vicly had a quick exchange with the other two Senators in the pod as a confused series of mutterings passed around the Senate; despite the fact that only about one third of the total pods were filled, the muttering became a deafening hiss before Vicly nodded to Arbo who spoke in a loud carrying shout.

"Go ahead, General."

Rey struggled to breathe as she watched the hovering pod off in the distance as Poe's voice picked up again.

"Senators… I'm sure it's been very easy for everyone not actively involved in this war to see this in the barest shades of black and white. It's easy to see a repeat of the Imperial occupation of the galaxy with us as the Rebel alliance. But, I'm sorry, it's not that simple."

She could hear him catch himself before continuing as though he couldn't believe what he was saying. "There are people on each side who were on the wrong side respectively. You heard testimony from a former Stormtrooper only an hour ago who was an active member of the occupying force divisions in the First Order."

Senator Vicly interjected then, "General Dameron, the Stormtrooper previously under the callsign of FN-2187 was raised at a young age to be a member of the First Order's frontline, that sort of conditioning cannot be held against him… "

"Yes. Yes, exactly, you _cannot_. So are we going to hold Ky—." As he replied, he stopped on the name. "So are we going to hold Ben Solo to a different standard? We can sit here and pretend that these events have transpired as nothing more than the will of a different sect of violent beings, but we all know that the Force has played its part in this."

"Darth Sidious was able to influence a broken and abandoned young man to topple the Old Republic and create the Empire, and we all have heard the stories that it was that same man who threw down Darth Sidious to help restore order until the Sith Lord returned this past year. And the reports we've heard indicate that Ben Solo might have played a similar role at the end of this last conflict."

The Senate had taken up another rumbling at Poe's words and Arbo barked out again, "Silence!"  
Vicly was leaning forward now, looking more than somewhat perplexed.

"We haven't yet heard testimony that indicates to us that any such thing transpired… "

Poe's voice was growing louder, and to Rey it seemed we was close to losing control. She had heard about Poe's desperation and attempted mutiny above Crait, and now there seemed to be a similar vibe leaking from his voice.

"Why not?! Is it because the only two witnesses we haven't heard from are the only ones who were there when Palpatine was destroyed?! Maybe this is the reason we've only been hearing from people who have never exchanged a word with Ben Solo in their life?!"

Rey was on her feet before she knew it; she was amazed at how quickly the Senate had flown into an uproar at these words. All morning, it had been nothing more than a quiet polite murmuring at best as Ben has forced to sit somewhere below her as accusations were flung at him without any way to defend himself or refute anything. And now, at the mere suggestion that there was more to this trial than was being said, something resembling hysteria was shaking the Senate hall.

Arbo had to slam a gavel staff against the pod to recall order and as the shouting died down, Rey could see that Vicly was noticeably shaken.

"Yes… perhaps we can move on to our next witness if that is where we're at."

'''''''''''''''''''''''''''

This is how it feels to be Ben Solo as you barely react to the shouting and yelling that billows through the Senate arena.

You have been checked out since the proceedings began. Ultimately, you knew that the majority of this trial would be all manner of evidence and testimony brought before you. The flickering of holoscreens above you surely broadcasted these offenses to the entire population of the Senate hall and you make no attempt to look at them. They're likely all things that you committed with the First Order or had stood by as they happened. You know that you deserve to be examined under harsh scrutiny. You can't sit and pretend that you deserve to be looked at in a less harsh manner.

You don't even want to, really. Anything else would have felt empty.

Hours have slipped by as you sit in your pod well below the rest of them, listening but not really hearing as you feel the apprehension of the four guards standing behind you and the dozen more standing just behind your pod in the hall. They have nothing to fear from you, but telling them so would have been entirely futile. They are scared of you.

And they should be.

Because despite what you said, what you truly felt about accepting the result of what came of this political charade, you were starting to come back on those words. Not because you believe that you are less guilty. But because it has become supremely clear that Coruscant is not safe for Rey. Perhaps nowhere in the galaxy is. There was a being very strong with the dark side on the planet, and you doubted he was alone in his workings. Rey was in danger, and you couldn't very well ensure her safety if you were dead. So the proceedings above you were nothing short of filler to the story that you had already determined would not end with death by Senatorial trial order.

Against the deep depths of your musings, you hear it then.

Her voice.

Speaking loudly and firmly, with only the slightest undercurrent of a shake.

She speaks immediately as to what transpired on Exegol. As you had hoped, she mentions everything save for the gift of healing you had provided one another through the Force, nor the moment of intimacy that followed. She talks of bringing you to the Resistance, your intentions and desire to be brought to justice and the hope that you would be allowed to prove yourself. For minute after minute, she responds to questions that are hurled towards her aggressively, clearly in the hope of getting her to slip up, but she doesn't.

Instead, you hear the passion in her voice grow and your love for her is all you can feel.

''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

"Rey, you say that he saved you in this fight against Palpatine. Perhaps this is true, but I have to ask, could this not have been a ploy in an attempt to solidify himself as the prevailing dark side master resident to this galaxy?"

"Then why not let me die and strike down the Emperor afterwards? He has had more than one opportunity to kill me, or to destroy the Resistance outright, but everything he had done since the death of Snoke was made towards an effort of discovery, not of conquest. How many planets did the First Order attempt to take in the past year? One. And it was on the orders of General Pryde who wanted the planet occupied as a stopgap between hyperspace lanes. You don't need me to read you the reports, you already know them front to back."

Senator Orris glanced down at the questions on the holopad of his pod that were constantly being updated as the back and forth advanced, "Let me ask this then: suppose the Supreme Leader was only attempting to hunt down Palpatine during this time period. Why would he not have simply abandoned the First Order in pursuit of this goal? It seems he did indeed spend the better part of a year being on his own with minor contact as we have obtained from deciphered First Order logs, how might this… "

Rey felt herself tuning out his questions as a black hole of rage began swelling in her gut; is this all there was to this? A back and forth of speculation without giving Ben a chance to even defend himself? This was at least the tenth question that Orris had posed to her, and though she knew it wasn't his fault and he was only reading from a collective scribing that the Senate was actively putting together, she was beginning to get sick of his tone and his face as he fired off query after query.

And Rey found she couldn't very well stand it.

Cutting him off in the middle of his half-hearted diatribe, she directed her raised voice towards not just the Senators on the central pod, but to all within the chamber.

"If all that's going to be offered before the Senate is a majority of unsubstantiated accusations, I think we'd all be better off if you'd just thrown them at Ben!"

Two things hit her then: firstly, she very well may have just thrown Ben to the garrals. Maybe he wasn't ready to be questioned as she was being, maybe he didn't want to be. Maybe this was something that would only make the situation worse.

Secondly, she had just openly called him 'Ben' and while everyone within the Senate arena knew of his actual name, no one had referred to him as anything other than the Supreme Leader or the former Supreme Leader. No one was likely ready to hear such a human connotation applied to the person they were doing everything in their power to simply act as a label for all the evil the galaxy had experienced in the past several years.

_That would explain the silence._

Perhaps not silence, but with the constant buzz that had soared over the Senate since the trial had begun, the lack of said buzz now was more than noticeable. Rey was calmly aware of what were thousands of pairs of eyes burning into her as Senator Vicly glared at her; without consulting either of the other Senators, her fur covered head nodded slowly.

"Very well… I suppose we can bring the prisoner forward. We have a few questions to ask of him."

_A few. _

That was it? Was Ben going to be given any chance to defend himself, offer testimony as to his feelings on what he was being accused of? Rey bit down what would have been an outcry towards this injustice, but she had enough to worry about without becoming known amongst the entire Senate as being as hot as an overheated blaster.

Ben's pod slowly rose from the depths of the Senate hall where he had been bound, Senatorial troopers watching him closely and being the only other occupants in the pod. Murmuring returned as he came into view, and Rey's anger dissolved into heartache. He looked so alone and resigned that she couldn't stop herself from closing her eyes for a moment and reaching into the Force. A moment later she opened them to see Ben start ever so slightly as she gripped his hand briefly and firmly. Would that she could stand there with him, Rey knew that was all she could offer him now as her own pod returned to its place against the siding of the Senate wall. She sat and gave Ransolm a small smile as he put a hand gently on her shoulder, eyes apologetic.

"Ben Solo, former Supreme Leader of the First Order." Vicly took this line of questioning and it was clear that this was not an orthodox procedure as Orris and other Senators eyed her in confusion. "You have been brought before the Senate on this day to determine whether or not the crimes you perpetrated are worthy to have you put to death, or if you will be permitted to live under Senatorial probation."

This sounded an awful lot like pure imprisonment to Rey, but Ben couldn't very well work to improve his situation otherwise. From his pod, he accepted this with a short nod.

"Do you have anything to say in reply to the accusations brought before you on this day?"

A sigh of relief rattled from Rey's lungs as she felt a gentle touch of hope. Finally he would get a chance to speak, to try and bring another side to this story that had been so perpetually one-sided since the beginning of the day. This would be what turned around what looked to be—

"I have nothing to say in reply to the accusations, Senator."

A stunned silence fell on the Senate, one even more profound and deep than the one Rey had caused a minute prior. Rey was on her feet before she knew it, but no words could escape her mouth, her shock held her stunned. Vicly seemed equally surprised, but she was able to recover after several blinks and an incline of her head.

"Forgive me… but this will be the only chance you will be given to refute these claims."

"I… I understand that, Senator and I thank you all for the opportunity to do so."

Rey was screaming in her head; she had half a mind to reach him through the Force again and demand what the hell he was doing, what he was _thinking_…

"I cannot say that everything I was accused of was perfectly accurate, but refuting them would be a dishonor to those victims of any crime I perpetrated, entirely or otherwise."

This seemed to surprise Vicly, who straightened in a moment of silence before continuing.

"I understand. If that is the case, then we can continue on."

She briefly exchanged words with Nibur and Bevicard, and Orris too guided his pod to theirs to offer some thoughts of his own. Rey had another moment to reflect on the sheer silence that seemed to have fallen and gave a shudder.

Vicly said, "Our first question is one of logistics. While with the First Order, we have no doubt you were made privy to a great deal of information that we were not able to garner from our scouring of First Order files after the surrendering of the remaining Star Destroyers. We would like to know if there is anything you might tell us that would help—"

"There are three secret training facilities on Hoth, Wobani and Trandosha. Elite troopers and death troopers were sent to either one of these three for conditioning or moved to Scarif where you'll find a small undersea shipyard that we had for contingencies. A great deal of our technical and coordination front was run from a converted supertower on Mygeeto, at a deserted CIS outpost that was never stripped after the Clone Wars. We had an engineering agreement with a small sect of Kaminoans who had migrated to Geonosis, they will likely be attempting to destroy all evidence of this, but if you watch Kamino over the next week, you'll be likely to spot them returning. You no doubt found that our main shipyard was based out of Fondor, but we commissioned most of our chief engineers out of Corellia, you'd get a good bit of specifics if you tracked them down."

Even with her limited understanding of trials run under the Senate, Rey could tell this was a sheer bombshell. Ben had just covered every piece that they could possibly ask him about, and he had done so willingly and in one fell swoop. Vicly was gesturing intently at Orris and the Senate scribes, ensuring they had gotten every piece of what he had just said. When she looked back, there was a wild look in her eyes, and Rey felt a rush of dread as she identified it as something akin to hunger.

"Anything else?"

Ben lowered his head; he hadn't changed his dejected demeanor even after the wealth of knowledge he had just granted the New Republic.

"Only this."

There was a thud as Arbo called for quiet again as the Senate had broken into frenzied conversation once more. Attention returned as did near silence.

"I cannot hope to convince you that I have changed. I understand the prejudice against me and I wouldn't dare claim that it is unjust. All I can ask for is a chance to prove myself, the same chance the Resistance gave me before our travel here; they could have killed me then and there… "

_Not likely_, Rey thought as her knuckles cracked between her knees.

"… but they allowed me the chance to come to Coruscant for a fair trial. I am truly grateful for this, and it is in your hands."

Rey slumped into her seat as the trial concluded unceremoniously over the next hour. It hadn't been the raucous event that she had imagined, she thought, as Vicly babbled something about how the result of the trial would be announced before the end of the day, once the votes and thoughts of the other Senators were tallied and examined. She had time to reflect on the cruelty of making her wait to hear the answer that would either fill her heart with joy or quite the opposite before Ransolm gently urged her from the pod. Before walking out into the crowd of Senators, Resistance witnesses, guards and others, she heard C-3PO mutter behind her,

"I've just never _understood _politics."

'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

Nearly two hours had passed since the brief but provocative trial had ended. Rey was finally being allowed a moment of respite from an insatiable flurry of further questioning and publicity by Holonet reporters who had swarmed the Senate building. Only after a lengthy deal of pushing and being escorted by the Senate guards had Rey been able to board a private transport which would take her to the private suites that were being provided to the Resistance during their time on Coruscant. They weren't anything as tremendously gorgeous as the brief look Rey had gotten at 500 Republica or even Ahsoka Tano's hideaway residence, but they were still much more than the Resistance was used to.

Part of Rey had wanted to go to Ahsoka immediately and ask for some advice in dealing with her nerves that were all over the place since the day had begun, but she knew that for the sake of discrepancy, she could only visit the former Jedi master when there were much fewer eyes on her, and after the ruckus she had made in the past forty-eight hours, it was unlikely there wasn't some reporter dogging her heels every step she took.

The wound across her chest burned steadily as she departed the shuttle that had dropped her off and she walked miserably through the open doors to see her friends just beyond in the lounge of the shiny and well-kept building. They all looked at her as she entered, Poe and Finn looking with faint worry, and Chewbacca with his usual gruff expression. As she looked at them, the Wookie cocked his head slightly and spread his arms in a gesture that was impossible to misinterpret; Rey practically tripped over herself as she stumbled into Chewbacca's arms, nearly letting his squeeze the tears from her eyes and enjoying the warmth and comfort he offered her.

"I'm sorry, Rey."

Pulling away and looking down, Rey saw Maz walking past, magnified eyes downcast as she moved to speak to Lando who appeared to be explaining some of the finer points of politics to a group of Resistance fighters who had been called on to testify. They all looked woefully out of their element.

_I suppose we all are._

Poe took a step forward, not looking at her.

"Rey… I tried. I really did. But I don't know what else any of us could have done, it was like they had their minds made up before we even started talking… "

Moving from Chewie's side, Rey took her turn wrapping her arms around him and resting her head against his shoulder. She could feel his surprise as well as relief as she spoke, "I know you did. And I appreciate it, please don't think I don't."

At a call from Maz, Chewbacca moved away, leaving Rey alone with Finn and Poe for the first time since the conference took aboard the Resistance cruiser. It was clear that Finn had been waiting for a moment like this ever since, and he took a deep breath.

"Rey, we have to talk."

She had known this was coming, and even more so, she knew he was right. But as she thought to what was currently transpiring behind closed doors, she knew that to explain to Finn the truth might very well break her on the spot.

"I know… but, Finn?"

Looking back at his intense, unblinking stare, Rey reached at him with the Force, hoping her plea would stave off his burning desire to know just a little longer.

"Finn, please, after this is over."

He closed his eyes for a period and she felt disappointment radiating from him, but he seemed to have already accepted this as he nudged Poe in the arm.

"No problem… let's go."

Rey had to blink away her confusion as they walked away; she had been about to ask to be left alone, but Finn had been ahead of her without her even speaking. Her anxiety and fear caught up to her before she had much time to think about it and she was able to excuse herself relatively easily onto a balcony on the terrace that rounded the building. It was mercifully devoid of the presence of others and stayed that way, though Rey imagined that her being out there may have discouraged others from taking solace along the open balcony.

Pulling in air shakily and with the consistency of a misfiring blaster rifle, Rey gripped the railing and looked out over Coruscant, looking, but no longer really seeing the endlessly vast cityscape that had so amazed her on their arrival to the planet days prior. In her mind's eye, all she could see was Ben's resigned expression and it drift away. Gritting her teeth, she lowered her head and reached into the Force, but just it had happened the previous night, she couldn't find him in all that metal and life teeming around her.

The bond was still there, but she couldn't reach him through it.

Rey blamed this on her rampant fear and lack of focus, but the very idea that her connection with Ben could her blocked by one thing or another was only cause to heighten this same fear and she had to catch herself from breaking down then and there. Closing her eyes, she tried to close herself off from the facets beyond her control and looked inward to Luke and Leia's training. Slowly, her heart rate retreated to a more regular beating and the sick feeling in her veins brought on by the tension that held her tightly. Diving into her own psyche, she beat back the worry, the fear, the anger and frustration one by one, until something resembling peace began to settle on her.

_It will all be well… within me and within the Force._

Mantras were repeated coolly in her head while she distanced herself from where she stood, from Coruscant and from her own physicality to let the universe sweep her to a place of not necessarily better understanding, but a place of calm. After a while, she couldn't even feel her own body or the railing she had been gripping, nor hear the sounds of the afternoon Coruscant traffic whining distantly. All she could feel and hear were her own thoughts, peaceful and distant, without any of the—

"Miss Rey?"

C-3PO's pitched and unmissable tone sent her crashing back down to reality. Opening her eyes, Rey realized that hours must have passed since she had distanced herself from any company as she stared around at the sky that had darkened considerably since she had closed herself off from the world. Her droid companion glinted gently in the lights cast from Coruscant's skyscrapers and the light of the lobby behind the glass of the building where Rey could see most of the Resistance members within bunched up and talking, some casting looks out onto the terrace. She looked back to C-3PO, not able to shake the feeling of dread that had returned to her with only the barest urging, her hours of meditation useless before it. And as she sensed the droid's sophisticated programming hesitate against what he had come to tell her, she felt the world start to spin away, this time well out of her control.

''''''''''''''''''''''''''

This is Rey, in the core of her despair and at the heart of her weakness.

She is the granddaughter of one of the most powerful beings ever to bestride the galaxy, already legendary hero of the Resistance, and destroyer of the First Order.

In this moment, as she hears those twelve words, she becomes something else entirely.

"_The Senate have announced that Ben Solo will be put to death."_

Her world is held up in front of her, gleaming and beautiful before it falls away into a pit of loss from which nothing could escape. She is the most loved being in the galaxy, as well as one of the most powerful, but she has never felt so alone and so weak. The pain she feels is infinitely more ravaging than what she had suffered against the claimed Sith in the Temple; just then, she wishes he might have killed her so she could have been spared this.

Because her world is Ben Solo and they're going to take it away.

Rey doesn't remember leaving the terrace, or the direction she took to avoid having to speak to anyone. The Force urged her on with speed and power, but it only guided her as much as she allowed it; there were twitches and sensations in the Force her that mind told her were warnings, but they were ignored. Suddenly, time seemed to be running at a rate she could never hope to match, but she tried. She slipped through doors and down hallways, leapt across rooftops and took plummeting leaps that she never managed to be hurt in the slightest from. Kilometers were surely passed before she wound up in a building she had never seen before, running through doors and hallways that were entirely unfamiliar, but somehow were the exact path she knew she had to take.

She wasn't able to avoid contact with other beings then, and beings clad in Senatorial guard uniforms were scattered like sand in the wake of a twister. Down further and further she traveled; it was clear they weren't trying to take any chances on this one. It wouldn't matter for Rey regardless as she drove through a pair of durasteel doors like they were Naboo silk weaving and leapt down an elevator shaft. Throwing the elevator car down the shaft with little effort, she lunged through the gap made by the car and the shaft doorway.

Rey was close now and her heart was close to bursting.

Not feeling any hesitation, she blew away the last squad of men guarding the heavy blast doors, dashing them against the walls, floor and ceiling, before letting the Force slip the thinnest tendril into the door locks and causing it to trigger to open with a hiss.

And then Rey is no longer the engine of purpose and strength that has allowed her to travel across Corsucant in minutes. She is no more a vessel of her own will, made strong by the Force, unfettered by any strength on the planet.

Then she is just broken.

Ben Solo looks to her with only concern; he has sensed the storm she has generated in order to reach him and this lack of control she displayed worries him deeply. Rey senses this, but now she can only walk forward and drop down to sit next to him in another dark, cavernous cell on the single steel slab within and sob into his shoulder. The Force has no answers, nor sympathy. Her friends cannot understand her, let alone help.

It's just her and the man she has chosen over everything else.

And so Rey cries, unwilling to accept, but unsure of what else is left before her.

''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

Ben listened to Rey crying and felt his own heart begin to fracture. He wanted nothing more than come up with any collection of words that would bring her peace, but there was nothing to say. Everything she had done to bring him to her, to save him from the swelling grip of the dark side was about to be for not, as a result of the judgment brought down by the Senate.

Judgement he had promised to accept, but now seemed an impossible oath to keep.

"I can't lose you… Ben, I can't, there's nothing for me if I lose you… "

As he listened to the sounds of her anguished words, he recalled something Snoke had told him.

"_Attachment is something of ultimate importance to us. Without it, our focus becomes blurred and unattainable. Your attachment must be first and foremost to power; but everything you desire beyond that, everything you can make yours, will only make you stronger."_

"Rey, look at me."

Slowly, she did so, eyes red and cheeks wet. The words he would have liked to say weren't there, but he did his best, "No matter what happens to me, I have to know, you have to _tell _me, you'll do everything you can to stay safe."

Her brow furrowed and he pressed on, knowing that if he stopped, he might break down too.

"I realized something recently. The darkness that's still out there, that _still _is hunting surely can't see you as anything less than a target. And if something happens to me… "

Rey drew back from him, looking terribly reproachful.

"How can you say that?! Why would you even—"

She began stuttering terribly, trying to talk over him and Ben grabbed her wrists trying to hold her still as panic seeped into her very words.

"Don't even suggest… I _won't_ let them… "

"Rey, Rey, look at me, you have to—"

"I'm not going to… ! I won't—"

"REY!"

Ben forced himself to shout as he felt tears starting to heat the backs of his eyes. Her pain was nearly palpable, hovering in the air like the impenetrable fog in the Force that had kept Ben's senses so stymied. Cutting off, Rey looked at him, lower lip trembling and Ben truly didn't know what to say. It was all he could do to reach up slowly and cradle the side of her face and rest his head against hers. Rey let out a long shaky breath, "I'm scared, Ben."

"I know."

"This isn't like Starkiller base. Or facing Snoke. Or even Exegol; I'd rather fight my grandfather a _hundred _times over than deal with this."

Despite himself, Ben smiled softly.

"Somehow, I doubt that."

Rey wrapped an arm around his neck, "It's true."

He brought up a hand to brush along the top of her chest. "Does it hurt?"

"Only when I think about it."

They lapsed into silence as Ben struggled to figure out to approach the situation. By the sound and look of it, Rey had collapsed and torn her way through every Senatorial guard ordered to watch over Ben on what was decided to be his last night. This wouldn't bode well for her image in the Senate, Ben could already sense the unrest of the ones who had sentenced him at Rey's defense on his part, and this would make things worse still. It would be a complete lie to say that his own anxiety was alive and well within his gut like an out of control podracer, but Rey couldn't know that, she was in enough pain… but how could he help her now?

"It seems I was too late."

Ben was on his feet as the unfamiliar voice rolled off the walls of his cell, an arm across Rey in a motion of protection. Somehow, he hadn't sensed anyone approaching and this coupled with the sudden intrusion were enough to have his entire being on edge.

Standing in the open doorway, cast half in shadow by the pale yellow light of the hallway was someone Ben hadn't seen before. A young man stood in the doorway, dressed in a dark green tunic with black boots and a cape; it wasn't hard to surmise this was one of the hierarchy of the planet by his dress and posture alone. Tightening his lips in a harsh line, Ben allowed some empty bravado to serve as his reply.

"Little early, aren't we? I thought you wouldn't be killing me until tomorrow."

The young man made no reaction to the remark, but Ben was given cause to look sideways with shock as Rey's voice echoed with a similar disbelief.

"Arkin?!"

This, was given reaction as the man let out a sharp sigh through his nose.

"Rey. It's good to see you again."

With shaky steps, Rey lurched to her feet and pushed Ben's arm aside. Ben barely had time to register her movement before she had reached the young man named Arkin and slammed a fist weakly on his chest.

"They were supposed to let him go! The evidence for him you slipped in didn't work! They're still… " Rey's voice went from a furious pitch to one that seemed to shatter with every word. "They're still going to kill him."

Hardly daring to breathe, Ben watched as Arkin looked down at Rey, then up to him, then back down.

"What did you bring with you to Coruscant?"

It wasn't hard to imagine the look of incredulity on Rey's face as Ben heard her practically whisper, "What?"

The stranger twitched with what might have been impatience as he looked back up and down the hall he stood in.

"Your possessions. I assume you have at least one lightsaber?"

Rey looked back at Ben who fixed her with a bemused expression as her mouth opened and closed wordlessly. Arkin put a hand on her shoulder and Ben's entire body tensed, the Force ready to turn this Senator into a broken mess.

"No matter. Return to wherever you were staying and collect what you hold most valuable. Only what can be carried lightly. Return to the garage above this prison facility and to the left of the visitor suites."

Hardly daring to believe what he was hearing, Ben fixed the man with an unblinking stare as it was returned. Arkin's eyes held a harsh intensity that was awfully unbecoming of a Senator, who seemed to be required by law to offer pointless pleasantries and fake smiles every which way.

"I'm getting you both off this planet."

Rey's entire demeanor slowly shifted to one of despair and worry, to something brimming with apprehension and what must have been hope. Ben saw her brow arch upwards as she looked at the intruder, "Arkin… how can you—"

"Forgive me, Rey, but you may be surprised to learn we have very little time. Your stunt in breaking in will force things to speed up. I don't imagine we have much longer than… "

He thought for a moment.

"Eight or nine minutes before they do routine checks across all squads. When the ones you didn't run into try and get ahold of the ones you did… well, that puts a damper on things very quickly."

An unspoken understanding crossed over Rey's face and resolve painted its way across her eyes as her jaw clenched purposefully. Ben thought her very beautiful when she looked that way, he reflected stupidly as she looked to him and then back to Arkin.

"I'll be there."

Stepping past him and making to spring away, Arkin stopped her, "Rey, not a word to _anyone. _Friend, stranger, it doesn't matter. Speed and discretion."

She nodded and looked back a last time to give Ben a smile that showed she still dared to hope, just maybe, that this might work out before she dashed off the way she had come. Ben felt her in the Force, surely moving faster than the eye could follow as her presence raced off. For a moment, the young man looked after her before turning back to Ben and jerking his chin in the opposite direction.

"Assuming you value your life, I'd come with me."

The Force had no advice for him this time, and Ben slowly walked across his cell to stand across from the man. He was just a hair shorter than Ben, and it became striking then that he truly was _young_. He couldn't have been much older than Rey, perhaps even younger than her.

"This way."

Cape swirling around him, the young man marched down the hallway in the other direction from where Rey had gone, stepping nonchalantly over the bodies of the men Rey had nearly pulverized in her panicked efforts. At a swipe of a band around the man's wrist, doors opened and Ben followed him through. For the better part of a minute, it was quiet between them, the only sound being their steps against the tiled floor of the facility, the dull thumping of Ben's shoes and the sharp clicks of the heels of the man's boots; his very footwear likely would have covered the cost of a small cruiser.

"I don't believe you bothered to introduce yourself. Though you very clearly know Rey."

The man responded very quickly, as though he had been expecting the question.

"No, I didn't. I wasn't lying for her sake when I said that time is short. I have caused the footage cast to the central security node to be looped for the next half hour of the same teams patrolling your hallways an hour ago. Unless someone in the booth is very observant, nothing would be visually noticed, but Rey's… shall we say, 'theatrics', have made it so we really have much less time than that."

Rotating his shoulder in what might have been a nervous tick, he spoke his name without looking back at Ben, "My name is Arkin Fasseph. I am a baron of the planet of Serenno, and chief benefactor by way of the New Republic."

Though his years with the First Order had been mostly politically free, Ben had picked up on enough to know that there was always something behind every political drive; every effort made had some promise of riches or power behind it. Every move made was an attempt to further the agenda of someone, but as the Force caught emanations of Arkin's emotions and passed them to Ben, he found nothing that suggested he was a politically motivated figure of any kind despite what he had said.

There was intellect, plenty of that, it was obvious this young man had seen enough in his brief life to keep his head well above water in the chaotic state the galaxy was in. There was hesitation and worry though nothing enough to be overpowering, and… envy?

That couldn't have been right.

Arkin was taking them upwards now, ascending a long staircase that twisted its way up, and in even just the change of quality of the railings, Ben knew they were starting to push into structures that were not meant for any other than the wealthy.

"I met Rey on the platform when the Resistance arrived on Coruscant. We spoke briefly and I told her where to find me if she needed any help making sense of what was surely a strange new world."

Ben couldn't keep from feeling an instinctive rumbling in his stomach that echoed of anger; what exactly had she confided in this stranger?

"Shortly after word of her battle with the Sith acolytes who had attempted to infiltrate the Jedi Temple, she came to my apartment at 500 Republica. She told me her beliefs that you are worthy of a chance to atone for your actions amongst the First Order and I was able to surmise she was being truthful."

"How could you know that?"

Looking halfway over his shoulder, Arkin gave him a dry look, regret mingling in his eyes. "When you're on this planet long enough, it becomes painfully evident how much everyone is lying to one another. Rey was the first person in years who I could tell was offering me the full truth as much as she knew it."

The latter half of this sentence gave Ben pause and he stared into man's back, not bothering to hide the accusatory tone his voice took, "You somehow don't seem entirely convinced."

"Make no mistake, Ben Solo. I'm not sure what to think of you. But I am certain of two things: Rey believes you. And I would be a fool to not consider the word of the person who toppled the First Order and who has every tell of a person looking to be after good."

Nice words. Perhaps even true words, but Ben didn't like hearing them coming out of Arkin's mouth; he sounded much too like he saw Rey as some unknown creature that he was studying. Whatever his motivation, the way he talked about Rey set Ben on edge.

He kept this too himself, however, knowing that it would do him well to learn as much as he could about Arkin while he had the time. "And second?"

"Don't pretend you haven't guessed it."

Arkin was smiling, but there was no humor in it, just apprehension seemed to be pulling the edges of his mouth. "That was no trial. It was both too short and too long; it was a glorified reading of grievances. You didn't take advantage of Vicly's offer to refute the statements brought before you, but the way that… façade was playing out, I don't imagine you would have gotten more than a few minutes to defend the hours upon hours of crimes they were piling against you."

They walked through a deserted annex of some kind and Arkin led him through another hallway and into a small room that opened into a small hangar. Inside were a collection of ships, some speeder size, others slightly larger than the _Falcon_. And all were surely more expensive than Ben could have guessed.

"You were set up to be condemned to death. But the reason for makes zero sense. They settled the matter out of court and gave you only a day to live, no chance at appeals or anything of the sort. The fact they moved you to an unconventional holding facility that hasn't seen a prisoner since the days of the Empire. No sense, any of it."

Moving to a waist high control console, Arkin pushed a switch and the hangar doors slid open, two enormous slabs of titanium the height and width of a building each pulling back to reveal the night covered Coruscant skyline. There was a joyful yell in the Force, and Ben watched as Rey rounded the corner on the outside of the hangar, small satchel in hand and staff swung over her shoulder. She saw them and raced their way, giving time for Arkin to fix Ben with a last wry look.

"Something is wrong on Coruscant, Ben Solo. Your fixed trial isn't the worst of it."

''''''''''''''''''''''''''

Rey felt hope and apprehension running laps in her gut as she sprinted up to Arkin and Ben. The satchel she carried only housed a couple items of value; Luke and Leia's sabers, a pair of transponders, and one of the smaller Jedi texts that she imagined might be useful.

Arkin was offering Ben some quiet words as she approached but when she came within earshot, he turned to her, grim expression fading to make room for a gentle smile.

"Glad you could join us."

Not wasting any time, he turned and gestured to a ship that was unlike most of the others; had she the time, Rey would have loved a chance to examine all of the gorgeous ships within the hangar, surely owned by the richest within the Senatorial district, but the ship her attention was directed to know was slightly smaller than the _Falcon_ and it hardly appeared as impressive as the others parked around it.

"Do either of you know this model of craft?"

Rey did, she had seen several of these land on Jakku, though this one seemed heavily modified. Still, Ben beat her in answering Arkin's question.

"Looks like a VCX-100. Corellian shipbuilders commissioned these as small freighters, often to the Rebel Alliance prior to the Battle of Yavin."

Rey had to remind herself that Ben was just as experienced with ships himself and he was a more than skilled pilot. Arkin too looked faintly impressed.

"That's correct. Operates under a similar set of controls as all Corellian vessels. Would either of you happen to know how to pilot a ship of this kind?"

Having flown the _Falcon_ a myriad of times, Rey nodded fervently and Ben did the same. Arkin looked between them carefully and then back to the ship.

"Then there won't be any need for the autopilot."

He gestured again, "This ship is the _Ghost_. She was a ship used by the aforementioned Rebel Alliance during the Galactic Civil War, hence the modifications you likely see, particularly concerning firepower. To my understanding, the Rebel crew was killed when the ship couldn't manage a blockade run and was tractor beamed by a Star Destroyer. The ship was found and acquired by Senator Arbo after the war who had it brought to Coruscant, one of many war relics he holds. He instructed some of his old militia company to fly the _Ghost _to Exegol when the call went out and it was returned here afterwards. It can be manned by one, but with both of you in the cockpit, it'll handle like a dream… I believe it will do you well."

The quality of the ship suddenly became vastly unimportant to Rey. When they were on board she would be able to give the ship's specs a look over, but it already seemed like it would be more than adequate.

"There are roughly three months worth of consumable sustenance aboard, and I've loaded the ships databank with about two hundred thousand credits. The credit is still in the process of being reintegrated monetarily across the galaxy but the majority of populated worlds will accept them without hesitation."

Rey's heart swelled with gratitude unlike anything she had felt before and Ben spoke beside her, "What are you doing this for?"

Arkin looked slightly uncomfortable then, as though discussing the very idea of personal charity like this wasn't something he found particularly becoming.

"I… I have chosen to believe that Rey has told the truth. And by doing so, I believe that the both of you have done well enough to deserve whatever life you choose. Should you choose it, you can take the _Ghost_ and the money and disappear in an Outer Rim world, live peacefully for the rest of your lives. But the choice is yours, it's already out of my hands."

Rey looked at Ben and he looked back at her, and for a moment, it seemed not only too good to be true, but the only conceivable option. But as she saw the resolve buried in his eyes, she knew what would have to be done.

Looking back to Arkin, she spoke, her voice heavy with emotion.

"I… _we_ can't thank you enough for this. But we have a job to do, a duty to the Force."

Ben continued for her, finishing her thought as perfectly as Rey could have.

"As you say, something is wrong in the galaxy. We still can sense something dark despite the Emperor's destruction. We have to hunt it down and destroy it, wherever it may be."

Arkin looked at them with the barest sense of empathy, a parent might offer when their child suggests that to end all wars, everyone just needed to put down their blasters.

"How could you possibly do that… ? Where would you even start?"

And despite everything, the daunting task before them, Rey smiled.

"The Force will guide us."

Arkin looked to them a moment longer before letting out a long sigh.

"Do as you will. I wish you all the luck in your journey."

In her time being a member of the Resistance, Rey had been forced to learn over time how to convey her emotions. Her upbringing on Jakku had left her emotionally stunted in reacting to and dealing with others, but after her time with Poe and Finn and Chewbacca and all the others, she knew how to thank Arkin. Sparing a regretful thought that she wouldn't be able to see her friends before leaving, Rey walked up to him and wrapped him in a tight hug.

His body stiffened in surprise, but he managed a pat on her back before she pulled away.

"Thank you. For everything you've done for us."

There was a slight flush in his cheeks and he accepted her words with a nod.

"The ship's signal will have been archived in the Coruscant ship logs. Wherever you're going, I would stop at a backwater shipping planet and have a scrapper change the ship's code. I would recommend either Bracca or Murkhana."

Ben had already started for the _Ghost_ but looked back at these words. "Why those two in particular?"

"To my knowledge, there were very few planets unaffected by the struggle between the First Order and the New Republic, but Braaca and Murkhana were just about unaffected completely. They wouldn't know hardly a thing about this war, and considering your two faces are about to become stamped over every holoscreen in the galaxy, that anonymity could be useful."

Rey heard these words and knew that time was short, but as Ben made his way up the ship's ramp with a curt nod to Arkin, she stared at the same man, unable to move. He looked at her for a moment.

"You need to get going. They'll be finding your handiwork back at the holding facility any time now and they'll work their way here and find a missing ship."

There was much Rey wanted to say, but words weren't on her side in that moment. Everything over the past two days had happened much too quickly and her very being only felt deeply with exhaustion and not much else. But Arkin had given her and Ben so much, even just the hope he had given was enough to cause her heart to ache.

In the end, she settled on a nod and a farewell.

"Thank you."

He bowed his head respectfully and she moved to the ramp Ben had just ascended, listening to the engines rumble to life. Smiling, she grabbed an overhead hatch and made to walk aboard.

Suddenly, behind her, there was a monstrous, shadowy rush that caused every hair on her neck to stand upright. It was as though a primordial evil had just appeared behind her and was bearing down on her and Ben with all the hate and fury that could be mustered by the entire universe, bringing down an infinite weight of its aggression to crush her in its claws. Letting out a short scream that was only half audible over the sounding of the ship's engines, she turned to only see Arkin walking away. At her cry, he turned back, polite confusion on his face. Rey stared at him a moment before casting her eyes down and hastily boarding the _Ghost._

The last thing she needed was for her and Ben's secret benefactor thinking she was mad.

Ben was in the cockpit on the right hand seat, warming the engines and checking readings. He gave her a look that echoed of the worry Rey knew he felt.

"What do you think? He's right, we don't have long, but where do we go first?"

Settling into the seat next to him, and letting the peace of the Force brush over her, Rey took a deep breath, gripping the controls on her side of the console. Whatever she felt must have been a combination of the fear she had been battling over the past days and her apprehension now, nothing more.

"We can't leave Coruscant just yet."

"What?! We can't have more than twenty minutes before—"

"I know, and this won't take long."

Rey urged the ship off the ground and directed it forwards; flying again couldn't have felt so freeing.

"We have an old Jedi master to visit first."


	8. Chapter 8

_**AN: It's been a few chapters since I thanked you guys, and I'd be remiss in not doing so now… so thank you guys so much for making writing this feel worth it. It's come very naturally, but every time I get an alert of a new follow, favorite, or especially a review, it makes this feel very special. So thank you guys, truly.**_

_**Hope you enjoy!**_

''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

_Ghost _slipped gently through the traffic lanes above Coruscant that were more populated with freighters and mass transport vessels. It had set in very quickly for Rey and Ben the gravity of their situation and how they were suddenly, and very surely, on their own. Once they were in hyperspace, Rey was sure they would be able to relax a bit, but for now, both her and Ben were doing everything in their power to maintain speed and distance that would keep them as unnoticed as could be.

"How do you think we should fly up to the building?" Rey had asked as they neared the complex that Ahsoka's apartment rested in.

"Well… this isn't a ship that's very likely to be flown by one of the richer folk who would stay here. So it's unlikely that anyone watching on cams would probably see us as pretty undesirable."

"What are you suggesting then?"

"Let's just keep our distance, but not _look _like we're keeping our distance."

As Rey had fixed him with a very dubious look, he had shaken his head in mild frustration at the lack of sense he was making, "I don't know; fly casual."

Rey had smiled at his aggravation and now they were swinging the _Ghost_ around the back end of the building. There were several larger ships and were more of them then there were personal transports, so Rey was heartened in thinking that they would be able to blend in at least briefly. With every passing second, she knew that the whole of Coruscant was getting closer to what would likely be a full planet lockdown to track down the infamous escaped prisoner. As they touched the ship down on one of the free pads, she jumped to her feet, flipping several switches to idle their vessel.

"Stay with the ship."

Immediately, she saw his lack of enthusiasm in this plan; as he made it halfway to his feet, she put a hand on his shoulder, "Keep the engines warm, I won't be long. And I won't be in danger."

His expression softened if only a little and he nodded jerkily.

"Hurry back."

Rey took great joy in leaning down to surprise him with a kiss before running out of the cockpit, through the cabin and down the ramp, and into the building. Having come in the back way, there was no fear of being immediately sighted at the reception desk by that Ithorian who had seemed less than interested in keeping her from rushing in last time, but she didn't think it wise to take any chances. Easing a security console into giving her access to the a lift that was clearly meant for only authorized personnel, she allowed it to carry her to near the top floor, where she knew the room was. As she stepped out and took off down the long slanting hallway, she had time to reflect that the night sky had grown darker than when they had arrived, signaling that time could not have been more off the essence.

Then she was at the door, and she found it unlocked as it slid open. Ahsoka was standing in the middle of the room, the lines of her face creased with worry, but that look blossomed into a relieved smile as she saw Rey standing in the doorway.

"Rey… I was so worried. I knew… you must be at least alive, there was nothing in the Force that told me—"

"Master… Ahsoka, I'm sorry, but we have very little time."

Inclining her head in a somewhat understanding nod, Ahsoka looked at Rey carefully, "That's him I sensed approaching with you, isn't it?"

"It is Ben, yes. The Senate condemned him to death, but with some help, I was able to break him out and we have a ship. We're leaving Coruscant."

Rey realized she hadn't a clue what she had planning on saying to Ahsoka when she saw her, but now the Force eased the words into her mouth with perfect sense. Firing off the facts quickly was all she could do before she asked what she knew was her only real request just then.

"Please come with us."

Ahsoka only watched her as she continued on, "I know this is sudden, but we need your help. Jedi or not, you are as strong with the Force and you are wise beyond Ben and I combined, I know that. We're already a little lost going forward, but I think having you with us could making that burden much lighter."

It didn't inherently sound a convincing argument, but Rey hoped that her desperation would come across. She wasn't even genuinely sure she had laid out all of her reasons, and when Ahsoka finally spoke, this became clear.

"I wish you would be honest with me, Rey."

Looking away and gritting her teeth, Rey tried to keep her voice in check, "Master, _please_, there isn't time… "

Ahsoka was as amenable as the sand dunes on Jakku, "The Force will give us time. Tell me what truly brought you here. You could have just left, taken away to the far reaches of the galaxy with Ben Solo, but you came to me instead."

Frustration drove Rey's words, but as they spilled from her, the truth in them had never been more apparent.

"I thought when the Emperor was destroyed, we could be free. But for all the evil I felt on Exegol, I feel it now more than ever! You lent me your strength when I went to the Temple, but the man I faced there wasn't like anything I could have imagined!"

With a stab of anger, she reached for her top and pulled it down at her neck in a wide v-shape, revealing her wound. She was giving it time to breathe and had pulled off her bacta strip, allowing the maroon and black scar to be visible in all its awfulness.

"The dark side is still here and it is still powerful, worse even! It's what almost killed me at the Jedi Temple, it's what has been watching _you_ for however long you've been hiding here, and it's what influenced the Senate to have Ben sentenced to death, I know it is!"

Realizing her voice had been rising at a rate commensurate with her ire, she took a long inhale and steadied herself.

"I have to find it. With or without you, Ben and I are going to destroy it. Whether it's just the Sith we fought in the Jedi Temple or otherwise, we're going to destroy it."

Rey knew this was an awful argument to bring before a Jedi, even a former one; the motivations she had just stated were rich with hate and anger, and this would certainly have been troubling to someone who had been so trained in peace and perpetual understanding.

But Ahsoka still didn't react, her expression as cryptically blank as could be. Rey felt Ben call her through the Force and urgency drove its way into her veins, but before she could make another plea, Ahsoka spoke.

"All my life, I was taught not to seek conflict out in the hopes of destruction or revenge. I watched beings I knew, friends the best of them, fall to these desires and urges."

So this was what she was going to get? Another lecture about resisting the temptations of the dark side? With a spike of derision that surprised even herself, Rey thought darkly, _I could have gotten that much from Leia._

"But all the Jedi ultimately had was fear. It was what drove every part of them to strive for that life, and for them to arrogantly ignore everything that indicated the dark side was returning. So fearful were they, of a repeat of the calamity of the first war against the Sith, they buried their heads and let it happen, rather than face it."

She turned towards the window and looked out at the endless tiny lights that soared across the blackening Coruscant skyline.

"Because of arrogance the Jedi taught me, I left my master to be turned and twisted into one of the most evil beings in the galaxy. I won't see that happen to you."

As Rey's heart thudded against her chest, Ahsoka turned back with a sad smile.

"I had thought my days of galactic travel were over… I can see I was wrong."

And then she inclined her head, hands clasped in front of her.

"Lead the way."

''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

Even despite what he had been told briefly by Rey, Ben couldn't help but feel a nervous rush that had nothing to do with his current legal status as he watched Rey and an older female Togruta exit one of the buildings back entrances. As he watched, he saw an irked looking Ithorian following them out the back, very displeased about something, likely this unorthodox access to his establishment, but as Rey waved a hand, he suddenly seemed to become very at peace with the situation and strode back inside.

Engaging the landing ramp, Ben waited to hear them both aboard before sealing them and directing the ship's nose towards the stars. A moment later, Rey slid into the cockpit, gripping his shoulder briefly before taking her seat; she glanced at the flashing on one of the console's screens and gave Ben a sideways look after punching a few buttons.

"Emergency frequencies going out on all channels. Advising all buildings open to shut down and all citizens are being advised to be on the lookout for you."

Ben pulled up the navcomputer, and began spinning up the ship's hyperdrive, "Nothing about space lanes closing or orbital gating?"

"Not yet… I guess they haven't made it to the hangar yet."

Rey leaned over to look at the planets he was flipping through.

"What are you thinking?"

As the _Ghost _broke free of Coruscant's atmosphere, Ben gave a shrug, " I think either of the suggestions we heard would be as advisable as the other. We need this ship's signal scrubbed or we're not going to last long out there without cutting ourselves off completely."

Feeling a gentle prod in the Force, Ben moved their coordinator almost involuntarily towards the planet that he plugged into the navcomputer.

"Let's try Murkhana."

Rey gave him a reassuring smile, clearly sensing his uncertainty, and together they pressed forward and the stars above became streaks of white as the ship leapt into hyperspace.

Beneath where the _Ghost_ had vanished was a planet that was on the precipice of devolving into turmoil. The Senate would have to decide how to handle the fact that, not only had the galaxy's most wanted prisoner just escaped from the very heart of the New Republic, but the galaxy's most loved hero had disappeared with him. The Resistance members planetside would be faced with a grim reality that Rey had chosen what they perceived to be a monster over them, the planet's population would have to draw their own conclusions and fall into various states of disbelief and panic, and through it all, there was still one who took immediate advantage of the event that would plunge the city planet into chaos.

Ben and Rey, while experienced pilots both, were still new to the workings and layout of the _Ghost_, but the pilot of the small, one-man ship was not. Upon detaching itself from the atmosphere, those aboard the _Ghost_ had not scrambled their own nav system as they might learn later and that made plotting their hyperspace route that much easier. And so, with no one watching, the small ship made its own hyperspace jump moments after the soon to be fugitives, a tiny blur against the sky and blinking away into nothingness.

'''''''''''''''''''

Exiting the cockpit as the swirling of white and blue outside began to become mesmerizingly tiresome, Ben steeled himself before he entered the cabin; same side or not, a former Jedi master likely wouldn't have all the best things to think about him. Even still, there was an occasional pang of excitement; he had yet to meet a Jedi post his adopting the name Kylo Ren who he hadn't been actively trying to kill, or vice versa.

The cabin of their newfound transport wasn't anything quite as comfy as the _Falcon_ had offered, but it would be more than acceptable for their purposes. A table with a semicircle booth and a couple seats along the wall made up the most of its lounging area and it was at this very booth that Rey and the Togruta he had seen board sat, both looking as though they had been waiting for him. When he saw their respective states, he froze up briefly and blinked a few times before managing to robotically speak,

"Calculations put us at Murkhana at o-nine hundred hours."

They both took his words with a nod and after several more seconds of silence, Ben began to feel genuinely uncomfortable.

"Please come closer, Ben." It was the Togruta who finally broke the silence and gestured to him similarly. Ben didn't move until he saw Rey smiling at him softly; doing as asked, he stepped forward and the former Jedi master rose to meet him.

"My name is Ahsoka Tano. I was a Jedi during the Clone Wars and a member of the Rebel Alliance during the early days of the Empire."

He reached out to shake her hand and found himself overwhelmed by the calm pretense she radiated in the Force, perfectly matching the way she conducted herself. Ben sensed planet-sized embers within her though; her experiences in the Force had been anything but calm.

"I… am honored to meet you."

She fixed with a wry smile and he sensed a buried playfulness as well. "Please, Ben, there's hardly a need for formality now. Given both your state and mine, we don't need to waste time on pretending we're all Senators."

Taken aback at her joke, he inclined his head, daring to smile.

"I understand."

The pair of them sat and within moments, he was recounting his life to her and she hers to him and Rey. An hour had slipped by as he listened to the unbelievable life she had led, aspiring Jedi, being framed and abandoned by the Jedi Council, her going into hiding after Order 66 and conclusive workings with the Rebels as a member of a small team of skilled individuals, and encountering her old master, once awe-inspiring Jedi Knight and then Darth Vader. As she spoke, Ben wondered if Anakin had ever spoken to her as he had to him.

Speaking of himself had been difficult to start, as the more relevant part of his life had been a collection of mistakes and him giving into dark desires. Ahsoka and Rey, however, both listened with nary the hint of judgment on their face, though it was impossible to miss the pain that flashed over Rey's face when he spoke of his father. When he finally reached the present and stopped, throat terribly dry, Ahsoka leaned back, looking distant. As Rey stood to dip into the water supply aboard the ship to aid their parched throats after such long conversation, she gave Ben a polite look.

"You mustn't blame yourself entirely for what your life became."

He couldn't pretend he hadn't been rather harsh on himself while speaking, but Ben believed entirely that he deserved it. Ahsoka continued, "Anakin was one of the greatest warriors that the Jedi Order ever saw. But he could surprise people with how kind he was. The Jedi Order was broken and it abandoned him as it had me, but not in the same way."

As she spoke of her master, her eyes glazed with a regret that Ben couldn't recall seeing during her entire recounting of her past, a regret that echoed of a failing not belonging to her. "They looked past his weaknesses, the things that were hurting him in their own fear of what he could become. Their failings brought him directly to Darth Sidious. Anakin's failures were as much a fault of those around him as they were his."

Ahsoka pointed to him as Rey returned with glasses that she placed on the table. "Just as your failures could have been prevented had those around you not failed in turn."

Ben could understand this, but he couldn't quite make himself believe it; lowering his head, he rubbed his knees weakly.

"I can't just… accept that. I've done terrible things… things that-"

Her tone took on a distant sternness, "And you've renounced them, based on what I've heard. The path you believed would bring you to some understanding, the path that led you to commit these dark deeds is no longer your future."

She took a glass from the table.

"_This_ is your future."

She gestured around at the ship that carried them at a speed that was terribly difficult to even comprehend.

"This is your future."

That playful look crossed her face again and she jerked her head to Rey.

"_She _is your future."

It would have been a hard task to confirm whether Ben or Rey blushed more at her words then, but with a soft smile, she continued.

"Right now, we are just three beings with reason to want the dark side found and destroyed." She fixed Ben with an understanding look. "If you are looking for redemption, it will not come if you are actively hunting it."

The weight of these words struck him and he leaned back, considering them. Rey looked at him sadly and he could see that she was just as affected by these words as he was. Nodding slowly, he returned his gaze to Ahsoka.

"I suppose I will trust you on that."

She shook her head, "You don't have to trust me, just trust in the Force."

These words rippled through the room with a gentle peace and Ben could feel Rey relax slightly alongside him. Then, Ahsoka changed the subject and tension returned, but of a much different sort.

"What can you two tell me about the Sith you faced at the Jedi Temple?"

Ben leaned forward, taking his glass and sipping it before asking, "How do you know it was a Sith?"

Nodding towards Rey, Ahsoka shrugged. "I guess I don't. But Rey mentioned that it was Sith, and I have a hard time believing anyone without a great deal of training would have been able to stand up to either of you. Either with the Force or with a lightsaber."

Ben turned and looked at Rey as well, who was looking uncomfortable; they hadn't had any sort of real chance to discuss the confrontation that had taken place at the Temple, but now that suddenly it seemed they had nothing more than hours to discuss, questions that had been dwelling at the back of Ben's mind swirled up in a collage of uncertainty.

_Sith?_

Rey shifted her weight under the booth, looking at the table. "I… I guess I don't know for sure. But he had a very focused and powerful grasp on the Force and was no stranger to a lightsaber."

"He fought with a Form?" Ahsoka asked and Rey nodded fervently.

"I was only trained in three form under Leia: Makashi, Soresu, and Djem So. I've never really… _used_ any of them, my duel with Ben was… "

She trailed off and as Ben met her gaze, it wasn't difficult to guess where she had been going. Their fight had been anything but one of skill, their emotions leading the charge and neither of them truly wanting to be fighting. Ben himself had been self taught and had fenced with members of the Knights of Ren, but had never personally adopted a lightsaber form, rather choosing to implement his own techniques and develop his own fighting style. Knowing what Rey said now, however, he wondered how easily she might have countered him if she had used her knowledge of the three forms to fight him.

Ahsoka either grasped the implications of what they meant, or didn't find it prudent to ask towards her meaning, instead pushing further, "What did you notice about him?"

When Rey met her with a confused look, Ahsoka opened her hands in a broad gesture.

"Anything and everything about this person. Species, techniques, things that were said, ways it fought, weaknesses and strengths you can guess at. Even if trivial, the more we know about this assailant the better. I'm sure you heard that the leaks to the HoloNet referenced multiple attackers, not just one."

Ben interjected, "Probably to keep suspicion away from the idea of that a Sith might still exist in the galaxy. After what happened with Sidious, and Dooku and Vader, the idea of a single dark side user, even if it wasn't specified to be a Sith would cause at least some panic." Ahsoka gave Ben a nod of agreement as he finished his guesswork.

"I would assume the same, even if there supposedly has just been a tremendous victory over the First Order, the galaxy, let alone Coruscant will never forget how they were played by a single Sith mind."

She returned her attention to Rey who sat up straighter with a clenched brow, clearly doing all she could to think on what she had endured.

"He was a human male. I'm almost sure of it, he wore a mask, but the movements, size and build all seem match that."

Ahsoka began would become a routine case of occasional interjected questions, "How tall?"

"About my height, not much taller or shorter if he was either… black Sith trappings, I recognize them from my studies."

"His lightsaber?"

"Red. I couldn't tell much of the design, but it didn't sound like any lightsaber I've ever heard, low humming in particular."

Ahsoka pondered this for a moment before inquiring further, "You mentioned a mask?"

At this, Rey's eyes lit up and she grabbed at the small satchel she had brought with her.

"Yes. And it looked very much like something I had seen before."

For a moment, Ben feared she was going to pull out some visage of his own mask which he had modeled off the Siths Revan and Vader, but Rey pulled free a book that looked terribly ragged and worn around the edges. She began talking with an undertone of excitement and Ben could feel that she was very much engrossed in the discussion of this mystery figure regardless of her feelings toward him. Ben felt a similar fascination; after years of believing that he and Snoke had been the dominant and only wielders of the dark side in the galaxy, the very existence of this person was a captivating topic indeed.

Rey finally found the page she was looking for and turned it around, pointing at what was clearly an ancient sketch of some droid.

"The mask was almost identical to that. The only difference was that it looked like it angled more upwards past the brow, it wasn't as much of a dome on the top, it had sharper edges."

Ahsoka nodded at the picture of the vicious looking machine. "Krath war droid. Nasty things used by dark side users thousands of years ago. More relics than anything, but they played a strong part in the early wars of the Sith and Jedi. If your Sith was wearing a mask similar to this, it's clear he's done his research, but I'd be remiss in mentioning a particular Separatist commander who was designed in the guise of one of these during the Clone Wars."

Ben nodded, knowing of whom she spoke of while Rey looked between them, confused.

"Sorry… designed?"

When Ahsoka looked to him as well, Ben elaborated to the best of his abilities; in studying his grandfather, he had looked into as much of his life as he could find, and strong and central in the story of Anakin Skywalker were the Clone Wars and the villains within.

"General Grievous was a Kaleesh general on his home planet, and was half destroyed in a shuttle crash. The Separatists had been monitoring his success on his home planet against the Huk, and decided to give him a new body and make him a general in return for his military services. He became a cyborg and was versed in the Jedi arts by Count Dooku, making him as powerful an individual warrior as he was a general of the droid armies."

Rey watched him, listening closely. "Could… do you think this person could have modeled his appearance after Grievous?"

Ben shrugged and Ahsoka shook her head.

"We can only assume based on his appearance, at least until we know more about him." This seemed to be the meat of what she was interested in, and she fixed Rey with an intent look.

"How did he act?"

Hand slowly sliding away from her book, Rey reached up to brush her hand against her upper chest, perhaps an involuntary movement in response to thinking about the experience.

"Arrogant. At first. It was hard to sense his feelings until we started fighting and even then, their seemed to be a black cloud surrounding his mind in the Force. I could tell he knew how to hide his presence."

As she talked, Ben felt ire growing sickly in the pit of his stomach. That she had faced this man for the time she had, almost to the point of irreparable harm, was truly frustrating to think about.

"I know there was a point early on where I had caught him by surprise. I think he was imagining I wasn't versed at all with fighting with a lightsaber, so when I came at him with Djem So, I had him on the run… briefly anyway."

Ahsoka seemed to remember something and looked to Rey quickly. " Could you tell the form he used?"

Rey shook her head, "I don't think so. It was aggressive, it allowed him to land kicks and punches without letting up with the saber. He taunted me the whole way through, trying to show doubt… some it might have worked. I think I would have died if Ben hadn't arrived."

The two turned their attention to him then and Ahsoka addressed her next question his way.

"Did you notice anything different to what Rey mentioned?"

He mirrored Rey's movement and turned his head from side to side.

"I knocked him away when I arrived and when he attacked again, he asked if he really thought… " Ben trailed off but realized that if he was going to talk openly to anyone else, it may as well be Ahsoka, who had opened up to them just as much.

"… if we really thought _love_ could beat him. He might have kept coming after us, but I think he chose to leave when he likely noticed all the battalions we had brought."

Blinking, he suddenly remembered something that he couldn't believe had slipped his mind until just then; he looked to Ahsoka, "He mentioned you."

If this surprised her, she didn't show it. Rey however leaned forward, eyebrows raised.

"What?!"

Ben shook his head again, quicker and in personal disbelief.

"I can't believe I had forgotten. It was after you lost consciousness for a moment, but he made reference to a former Jedi Master on Coruscant that he believed we were in contact with. I can't imagine he was talking about anyone else considering he mentioned you by name."

Ahsoka nodded her consent, "Nor can I."

Wracking his brain, Ben reached for the name. "He said that we should be wary of you and that it would clear things up if we asked you about… "

_What was the name?_

Then it clicked.

"Ezra. He said to ask about Ezra."

And as he watched Ahsoka's face, he realized this was the first time she had displayed anything resembling discomfort.

Perhaps even something resembling fear.

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

The _Thanatos_ reverting to realspace a distance above the planet Telos was as close to anything interesting that had taken place in relation to the planet since its bombing thousands of years ago. As the ship dipped smoothly towards the dark side of Telos, backlit gently by the dim star that the planet rotated statically around, the apprentice couldn't help but wonder if his master ever had any intention of putting forces on the planet itself.

_Unlikely._

Telos was as opportune as a planet could be for his master's desires; after the bombing that had turned the planet into an inhospitable scorched sphere, the magnetic poles of the planet had been grievously damaged, resulting in a rotation around the planet's sun that never caused the planet itself to turn, keeping half of it dimly lit and the other half perpetually in blackness.

This was why when the apprentice entered the dark side of the planet's shape, he wasn't surprised to see a mass of dark shapes clustered just outside Telos's atmosphere.

His master's fleet.

As far as the capital ships that were a part of it, the number of vessels might have been laughable to someone just considering the number, but in reality, there was a good chance this particular miniature armada could lay waste to any planet of the core systems.

Two _Resurgent_ class Star Destroyers, the _Remorseless _and the _Defiant_, hovered on either end of the fleet, slightly larger than the ones used by the First Order and outfitted with relatively superior navigational equipment that was likely the most sophisticated in the galaxy. Behind them were four updated _Imperator_ class Destroyers, much larger than their counterparts used by the Empire and fitted more for immediate combat than extended space travel. Above all of these was a personalized Dreadnaught, the _Harbinger_, a ship built purely for war that protected the other ships in the fleet, particularly the central ship that dwarfed all the others by a tremendous margin.

The _Eclipse _class Star Destroyer, the _Calamity_, the flagship that was an entire fleet in and of itself, was almost twice as long as Darth Vader's _Executor_ had been and was of much greater mass. Bulbous and sleek depending where you looked, the thousands of tiny lights that blinked from its bow to its stern indicated size enough. Or how it barely seemed to grow in size faster than the planet it hid behind as the _Thanatos_ bore down towards it.

Flipping a switch to transmit clearance codes, the apprentice moved towards the docking bay on the _Calamity _closest to where he knew his master waited behind millions of tons of matrix armor, titanium and durasteel. His codes were received and accepted within seconds; ships rarely left the master's fleet and even more rarely did they return, save for the _Thanatos_, its scrambled signature recognized swiftly. His comm crackled and a familiar voice resounded within his cockpit.

"_Lord Banshor. We are honored to have you with us again."_

Watching the gargantuan flagship of his master's fleet slowly fill his entire viewport, Darth Banshor felt a humorless smile pull at his mouth. The voice hailing him was Commander Leesian, a Kaleesh, who was one of the few beings amongst the hundreds of thousands nestled within all the Star Destroyers that the apprentice numbered among the most competent. To say they were friends was a rash overstatement; the apprentice had no friends amongst the Sith fleet, but when he boarded any Star Destroyer on his master's orders, Leesian was the one he requested be instated as temporary commanding officer.

But to know Leesian was on board the _Calamity _was cause for concern.

"Why aren't you aboard one the _Imperators_?" The apprentice had a feeling he knew the answer, but wanted to hear it said anyway. At the very least, it would let him know if who would be meeting him when he docked.

"_The Master has requested many ranking personnel aboard, including myself, Commander Linra, Captain Nizhia, most of the Admirals, and a chunk of military commanders."_

Banshor waited.

"_General Aigarian is waiting to meet you."_

Had he been more undisciplined, the apprentice may have let a potent curse fly from his mouth then and there. Instead, he maintained a steady tone as he spoke,

"You may inform him that will not be necessary."

"_I anticipated this, my lord, but he was insistent. I understand the Master is instructing him to prepare to depart for Kumarabi before tomorrow evening, and he said that being there was on his way."_

The Dowutin general was never one to shy away from a chance to remind Banshor that he had been the one to suggest that the First Order ought to leak plans of Starkiller base in order to have it destroyed. This had conflicted with the apprentice's plan to force the New Republic to consolidate its forces in order to strike back, but this had backfired horribly and the New Republic had been able to scatter its forces and have their military go on the defensive, leaving Aigarian's plan to be an overwhelming success.

It wasn't that Aigarian didn't have his many uses; military prowess, commanding loyalty of an entire army of Dowutin converts to Sith loyalty, and a vast knowledge of the workings of worlds on the Outer Rim, but it was impossible to pretend tension didn't exist amongst him and others, Banshor included. Admirals Thuban and Vega had all but expressed their contempt outwardly, and Aigarian and Linra had butted heads on more than one occasion, but the Master had shut down these squabbles swiftly. The truth of the matter was that the Dowutin general was of a brilliant mind and his pros far outweighed his cons.

This didn't stop the apprentice from hating him, however.

"Thank you for apprising me, Commander."

Switching off his comlink, he guided his ship smoothly along the _Calamity's _bow and set it down inside a hangar that housed two transport shuttles and a fair number of prototype TIE-craft that were still in production. Powering down his vessel and lowering the ramp, the apprentice departed the _Thanatos_, gas hissing from his depressurizing ship.

General Aigarian was waiting for him as expected, bordering on nine feet tall and with a width that nearly blocked out the apprentice's view of the general's men, loading armaments onto a short-range jump craft. Next to Aigarian was Commander Beuser, who showed proper etiquette by bowing towards him, deep and reverent.

"Welcome back, Lord Banshor. We have been expecting you."

Aigarian contrasted the commander heavily by chuckling, a shuddering and low sound; Banshor had to resist wanting to ignite his lightsaber through the bottom of the Dowutin's horned chin.

"Yeah, I suppose it's good to have you back… try not to give the Master any bad tip offs this time though, would you?"

The apprentice would have been keen to remind the general then and there that all the information he had ever brought before his master had been anything but 'bad' and that he in fact was the only one in the entire chain of command who even was allowed audiences with the Master, but before he could snarl in Aigarian's face, another voice chimed.

"Aigarian, you wanna piss off? Everyone aboard is already counting the minutes until you and your trolls leave and give us peace for a while."

The voice belonged to Nizhia, who had entered from one of the doors lining the hangar.

Nizhia was a proper enigma. A human with black spiky hair, large eyes and a dollish face, it had been commonplace for many to mistake him for female when he was brought on board. On top of that, Nizhia was no more than five and half feet off the ground and couldn't have weighed more than a hundred pounds. In his military uniform, he couldn't have looked any more out of place, but when Banshor had found him on Tatooine, risking his life to make money podracing, raw skill and talent were all he had seen. And to this day, Nizhia remained the best pilot in their fleet.

Aigarian's massive brow furrowed as the pilot approached. "You're hardly one to talk. Hopping around the Master's ship like an oblivious child, you're as much a distraction as anything _could_ be."

Nizhia hopped up to sit on a couple stacked crates of ammunition and looked up at the general, clearly humored.

"At least I don't take up an ungodly amount of space when I do, stinking up the ship like it's a damn trash disposal."

And not for the first time, the general and the pilot fell into a materialistic argument, citing the other's physical and personality traits as reason for inferiority. In another time, it may have been amusing, but the apprentice had nothing but impatience in mind and he looked to Commander Beuser, who looked wholly put off by the situation.

"Commander, brief me as we walk."

Looking more than happy to oblige, the commander matched Banshor's step as he exited the hangar. As they left, Nizhia paused his argument just long enough to call over his shoulder, "Lord Banshor, I'll be by to update you on the status of the _Remorseless _and your fighter later this evening!"

As the durasteel door slid shut behind them, the apprentice could barely keep from shaking his head. Nizhia had just about zero respect or etiquette for anyone or anything, but the way he performed when needed was purely reason enough to let his unmannerliness slide.

Just as long as the Master never became privy to it.

As they rounded a corner, headed for a lift that would take them towards the apprentice's quarters, Commander Beuser had no difficulty letting his take on the situation be known.

"I certainly understand the reason we require them, but when I served the Empire's navy in the days of Emperor Palpatine, there was a strict protocol that was followed. No discourtesy and boorishness, no species other than human clogging command, just order and precise code followed by all."

"Your displeasure with the way our fleet is run has been noted, Commander. I will be sure to inform our Master of your grievances."

He didn't need to look over to know Beuser's face had lost color. "Ah, that will not be necessary, my lord, forgive me. I spoke far out of turn."

"Aigarian is a brash attitude housed inside a nine-foot monster of a body, but he is as militarily tactful as any human commander the Empire ever had. Nizhia is clearly a product of a troubled childhood and rampant abuse, but his demeanor does not detract from the results he manages in craft-to-craft engagements."

He fixed the commander with a hard look then. "No one is aboard any of these vessels who does not have a defined reason for being so."

Swallowing, Beauser nodded low before moving on to the reason he was accompanying the apprentice. As they walked towards the lift, the door swished open and a small squad of Sith loyalist troopers marched out, stopping to bow deeply to Banshor before going on their way.

"In the time you were gone, we intercepted a transmission from our array surrounding the core systems, appraising the New Republic ships in the outlying sectors that Rey Palpatine had broken Ben Solo from Republic custody and had stolen a Senator's craft."

"No information on where they were headed?"

"No, my lord. Just that they were transmitting along the ship's signature so it could be scanned for with deepspace countermeasures… "

"I assume you have the ship's signature from these recovered transmissions?"

"Yes, my lord, and we are ready to patch it to—"

"Erase the signature, Commander. By the time our scans are sent deep enough to even have a chance at finding it, the two will have slashed the previous signature and acquired a new one."

"Understood, my lord. Upgrades to their engines have finished on both the _Remorseless _and the _Defiant_, but we still have no new developments on the reports from our plants in the Kuat shipyards regarding the _Imperators_."

"And the Korriban lead?"

He knew it was to be bad news, and Beuser almost seemed regretful to tell him what he already knew. "Stagnant as it was when you departed, my lord."

The ride up the lift shaft ended and they both stepped out into a wide hallway devoid of other personnel. With only the distant hum of lights and electronics around them, Banshor turned to the commander.

"Inform the Admirals to remain within the ship's delegate section until I receive word from the Master. I will be with them shortly."

"It shall be done, my lord."

"That goes for anyone else the Master ordered aboard during my absence. I am unaware of his intentions, but I will surely be made aware of them shortly."

Bowing low again, the commander marched off in the opposite direction. Before he got more than a couple meters, the apprentice called after him.

"Commander."

Beuser turned back obediently.

"Mention the name of the Emperor again in the Master's ship at your own peril."

Remembrance that he had in fact spoken the name that had been often punishable by death aboard the _Calamity _flashed over the commander's face and he made another shaky bow before turning and departing again, his pace now uneven and stilted. The apprentice watched him until he had rounded a bend and his footsteps clacking against the floor had faded into silence before turning himself and walking through the several doorways that took him to his residence.

His chambers were quite bare, only maintaining the bare necessities he owned as a loyal disciple of his Master. Next to his bed sat a strong desk made of Wroshyr wood upon which were a small collection of Sith texts and holocrons of various teachings that he often spent days pondering over. A large black ivory cabinet housed his Sith robes and lightsaber materials. The only other thing of note within the dimly lit room was a door.

The apprentice hadn't stepped through this door in over a year, but as he stood in his chambers, waiting for his master's call, it seemed to lure him, ever so gently. Walking over, he reached for the door's access panel before reaching back and making a fist, his knuckles cracking like Kaminoan thunder.

_It's been so long… perhaps she's no longer even alive?_

No, he would have been alerted to this, either through the Force or through the ship's monitoring system. Heaving a low sigh, the door swished open and opened into a room of pure dark, save for a single bacta tank within.

The tank was lit by dim blue lights from the bottom and top, a control console next to it offering a screen that allowed him to access vitals and monitor certain parts and facets of the tank's single inhabitant. A soft blinking light indicated that life still remained within despite all odds and the apprentice approached, door enclosing him in and he became one with the darkness.

She still floated inside, eyes shut as though she were sleeping. Wrappings around her chest and waist maintained her modesty just as they had when the apprentice and his master had found her. The apprentice stared at her for over a minute before closing his eyes and reaching into the Force. Her presence was a very faint pulsing, but a pulsing that was steadily consistent; cold and shadowed, it resounded inside his head and he opened his eyes in dark frustration.

_You cannot walk, nor speak, nor even maintain thought… yet you live._

Finding her had been a stroke of luck; in the waning years of fragile peace before the apprentice and the master had unleashed the First Order on the New Republic, the pair had made a voyage to one of the hidden facilities the Emperor had hidden away during his time as reigning monarch over the galaxy. Breaking into the facility on Ilum that would become the beginning of the First Order's superweapon, the apprentice and his master had found several loyal disciples to the Emperor still maintaining his secrets. When surrender was not amenable to them, the apprentice's lightsaber had flashed through them and he had begun exploring the facility with his master.

It wasn't until the final room that anything worth note was discovered: a long chamber lined with bacta tanks took in their presence. After mere moments, the master had laughed.

"_Sidious thought to try and complete what he had never perfected."_

The apprentice had only needed to look around to understand this meaning. Within each tank was a being, suspended and in what was at best a deep coma. Noted on each datapad lining their tank was the cause of some near fatal injury that put them beyond normal means of medical repair.

"_He never learned the most of it. He was trying to complete it with these beings," _the apprentice had murmured, looking to each of them. In one tank floated a human male with a ravaged body, wounds from both blaster and lightsaber apparent. On the side of the tank was a label '**Garen Malek/Starkiller**.' His master had walked up behind him and chuckled darkly.

"_A shame he will never be able to complete his failure."_

But just as his master ordered the destruction of all the subjects, Banshor had made a single request. His master had regarded it with surprise, but slowly agreed before exiting the facility to return to the shuttle they had arrived on. Several loyalist troopers had followed the apprentice into the room, and with some effort, they detached and loaded up a single bacta tank onto the shuttle per the apprentice's own desire.

The last one to leave, the apprentice had looked at the row of tanks, minus one, and mused on how they had been abandoned, never to be awoken. It was distantly humorful, he had thought, before reaching into the Force and driving up the pressure within each tank to an obscene level, causing all the bodies within to implode on themselves and explode out of the tank, filing the room with gore and bacta.

The name 'Starkiller' had stuck with his master and he had directed his puppets of Sidious and Snoke to instruct the First Order to name the transformed planet of Ilum appropriately. Starkiller base had served its purpose, drawing all attention to the First Order and allowing his master's work to proceed smoothly.

But the apprentice never forgot the look his master had given him when he had requested to bring one of the subjects back with him, to practice on, maybe achieve something Sidious couldn't. But the person within the tank had never replied to his dark touches, his occasionally forceful urges. It might be that the lightsaber wound that had sliced deep into her back and sent her into a coma was insurmountable, at least for the apprentice's skill.

This thought only caused Darth Banshor's anger to slope even deeper into a frustrated pit as he stared at her, her name burned into his memory after all the times he had spoken it within the Force, trying to raise her from what was essentially the dead.

_Trilla Suduri._

A Jedi. An Inquisitor. A failure of both. And perhaps a failure of the apprentice as well.

He mused darkly for several hours before his comlink chimed and Leesian's voice brought him back to the present.

His master was ready to see him.

'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

In the cockpit of the _Ghost_, Rey and Ben sat together, her sitting sideways on his lap and resting her head against his, their fingers tightly interlocked. Eyes closed, they let the joy of being in one another's presence fill their minds.

Ahsoka had asked for a respite from the conversations and ponderings, citing that she needed a little while to rest, but neither of them had been fooled. The name 'Ezra' was not one unfamiliar to Ahsoka and likely not for any good reason. But they had accepted her request amenably, not willing to put more pressure on her in that moment; they still had much time to discuss these developments.

The discussion of the Sith had done nothing to ease either of their tensions, rather, they had worsened them. He was a more powerful enemy than they likely could have guessed, and he could have potentially killed them both. But as Ahsoka rested and Ben and Rey held one another, they were somehow able to push this from their mind.

For now, they were happy just to be together. It was the first time they had been allowed to just be in one another's embrace and let the love they felt be all that occupied their thoughts. It was a peaceful thing to let themselves be on in the Force, occasionally bringing their lips together and running their hands over the other. The galaxy was hell-bent on keeping them apart and it may continue to try and do so when they reached Murkhana within the next hour.

But through the will of the Force, Ben and Rey were able to keep those tides at bay, even if only for a little while.


	9. Chapter 9

_**AN: Changed the cover art picture for the story, credit goes to UltraRaw26, for bringing out the best Reylo fanart I've ever seen. Sorry about getting this chapter out a little later, but it wound up having a lot more meat to it than I thought when drafting it. **_

_**Hope you enjoy regardless!**_

''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

The interior of the _Calamity _could have housed a small number of cities and as such, anyone without a halfway decent understanding of its layout could have spent weeks wandering around its spaciousness and not find what it was they were looking for. This was partly by design, as the apprentice's master wanted it to be a relative mystery where his residence lay within his own ship. Seldom few individuals knew where the master could be found and Darth Banshor was one of them as he walked a path he had memorized years ago. Through corridors and down lift shafts he traversed, encountering Sith fleet soldiers and officers as he did; he regarded them indifferently as he passed, as he wore no mask among the same beings who served his master. None of them would dare pass along his identity to anyone outside the fleet. Not many of them would ever spend a day of their lives outside of one of the Star Destroyers anyway.

Eventually, the apprentice took a turn down a particularly dark hallway and, after a few more doors slid open and closed to admit him, he reached his master's chambers. Dark and octagonal, similar to his own room, the ceiling could have reached up fifty feet or five hundred feet for how possible it was to see. A modest throne, at least it was relative to the one that had been fashioned for the Sidious puppet, lit by dark red lights rested in the center where his master sat when he entertained all those summoned to his private chambers.

All except for the apprentice.

His master now was bent studiously over a table, a litter of holocrons out before him. He had made no movement to register that he had heard his apprentice enter, but Banshor knew better. Stopping a fair distance away, he lowered himself to one knee and bowed his head in an act of respect and, whether his master knew it or not, contrition. The moment his black-garbed knee made contact with the durasteel floor, the holocron he had collected from the Jedi Temple shot from the depths of his robes and landed in his master's hand. It was placed gently with a small group of others and silence was all that passed between them for several minutes until his master spoke.

"You are troubled, my apprentice," said Darth Plagueis.

"My master, it is nothing of any great concern."

The true Sith master slowly turned to finally regard Banshor, mild disdain written on his long face. "I send you away for months, and you return bearing lies?"

The apprentice cursed himself inwardly for being so brash; of course his master would be able to sense his distress. It ran through him in the Force like a river. His master continued, taking a silent step away from his work.

"The Force is ripe with disturbances, and your time away to Coruscant was no exception. Something happened between when we last spoke and now as you kneel before me."

Plagueis leaned forward, his voice dark with sarcasm.

"If it wouldn't be too much trouble, I would like to be made privy to whatever these occurrences might have been."

"Of course, my master, forgive my pride. On Coruscant, I—"

"Stand up," Plagueis growled. Banshor's master hated meaningless posturing; for him, in the ways of the old was only so useful before it became a distraction.

Plagueis hated pointless distractions.

Rising to his feet, the apprentice adopted a humble stance, as best as he could under the circumstances.

"On Coruscant, Rey was able to find me at the Jedi Temple."

This would be enough for now. For a long while, his master simple stared at him and the apprentice could feel sharp prods in the Force assailing his consciousness, trying to uncover something that had been left, for the moment, unsaid. This was an exercise the pair had practiced countless times and while Banshor knew his master might overpower him at any moment, for now he was still just being tested.

"She was able to trace your presence."

Lowering his gaze, the apprentice shook his head. "This couldn't have been possible, my master, I would have felt her touch in the Force. Something else led her to the Temple, at the same moment as I was there, following your command."

For another long while, his master dropped into ponderous silence, slowly pacing over to the steps before his throne, ascending them and standing with his back to Banshor.

"I would hear of what happened, my disciple."

Dutifully, the apprentice fell into a recounting of what transpired at the Jedi Temple. He held no details back, citing his own arrogance at the outset of the duel he had undergone with Rey, her surprising adeptness with a blade and the edge he was able to recover. He spoke of the joy he had felt listening to her scream as he hammered with blue forks of lightning, how she had tapped into rage trying to catch him off balance, and how Ben Solo had arrived with several battalions of Republic soldiers and forced him to retreat.

Through all of it, his master never reacted, just watched him constantly, a pillar of black calm in the Force. When Banshor had finished talking, he cocked his head.

"So to my understanding, despite my command that you ought never to engage either of these two, you did so given situations outside your control."

"Yes."

"And, given what you said, you emerged victorious from this battle that should never have been fought."

"… Yes."

"And unless I have seriously misunderstood you, you did nothing more than toy with Rey for the majority of your duel?"

Bile swam into the apprentice's mouth and he fought to maintain a neutral expression.

"Yes."

Plagueis raised his hands in a placating, mockingly confused gesture.

"Then I fail to see where your distress is stemming from."

Before the apprentice could reply, he sat down on his throne, a monstrously fake smile playing at his mouth, "You were able to complete the task I set before you and were also able to prove yourself against a person I know you have been wanting to cross blades with since I had you begin watching her."

Banshor could think of nothing to say, and kept his head down as his master's voice hissed outward, resonating with a provocative rasp.

"But you encountered something during this duel. Something you hadn't expected to find."

His master's invisible probing claws assailed the apprentice's mind ravenously, and slowly, he could feel Plagueis begin to put together the pieces of what he was so resistant to outright admit.

"You were thrilled for a chance to engage her, but as the battle waged on and you slowly began to beat her into submission, you noticed something."

Closing his eyes, Banshor tried to keep his master from probing any deeper.

"You felt the explosive collage of emotions that fueled her assault against you, and in everything you felt, you felt her connection to the Force, even more so to the _dark _side, and you… "

And at once, the pounding in his head stopped as the puzzle completed itself; Banshor waited furiously to hear his master intone the truth.

"My apprentice, you are _jealous_ of Rey."

His voice lowered an octave, accusatory and laughing.

"And perhaps more than jealous."

Banshor was speaking before he knew it, words flying from his mouth like an out of control turbolaser battery.

"Her natural predisposition to the Force is unlike anything we've ever encountered! No, the control isn't there, but the raw power—Master, if you had only been there!"

He was pacing then, striding back and forth as though he were addressing a group of commanding officers who had failed in their duties.

"Untapped, pure power, rocketing out of her in every which way like a cyclone, she could be something the likes of which has never been experienced by the galaxy!"

"Lord Banshor. Calm yourself."

Slowly, he did so; stopping his movement, he straightened his back and reached into the Force for clarity, for stabilization. It found him and propped him back into reality, but snaked its way into his doubts once more, and those doubts became a question.

"Master, why have we neglected to act upon Rey's existence? You saw it prudent enough to direct the puppet Snoke to stoke the flames of Ben Solo's fear and aggression, in an attempt to turn him into a weapon of self-destruction. But he has found solace and purpose with Rey, and now the two of them are deep into the galaxy, fleeing the wrath of Coruscant."

"They escaped successfully then?"

Looking away, the apprentice clenched a black-gloved fist. "We could have _had_ them… "

"And we will."

Banshor looked back to his master who was watching him with mild amusement.

"I have maintained a far distance from Rey Palpatine for reasons you have only just now justified in your recounting. She is dangerous, but just as much to herself and those around her as she is to us."

Plagueis took in a long breath and let his gaze drift upwards.

"The goal we are reaching for is greater than one single girl, regardless of her power. We will deal with her, and Ben Solo, when the time comes."

Knowing that this was not an argument that he would win, nor one that would bring any benefit, the apprentice let himself nod, "I understand, master."

"We will see, in time, if you do or not."

The criticism was not rebuked and Banshor allowed himself to continue forward in his recounting. There were certain things that he and his master would never see eye to eye on, and wedging some prideful stake further between them would do no more than waste time and energy.

"I believe that an old Jedi from the Clone Wars has been approached by Rey and Ben."

"Ahsoka Tano? The former Padawan to Anakin Skywalker I had you monitor briefly?"

"Yes, my master."

A dismissive wave told Banshor that his master was spending very little time worrying about any Jedi in particular. "Hardly a reason for concern. If she crawls from her den on Coruscant to aid the two of them, then so be it."

The apprentice watched his master gaze at him with an expression that dipped into something like pity.

"I understand your trepidation about Rey, my disciple, I truly do. For years, I have trained you, guided you into thinking that there is no other in the galaxy that can hope to match your skill and training. So for this… girl to reveal her potential to you is more than reason to fear what path the future may lead her towards."

With a brush in the Force, Plagueis put an astral hand on Banshor's shoulder.

"Peace, my apprentice. All will become clear in time."

Feeling a true sense of ease and openness, Banshor nodded, but cast his eyes down in a show of shame and vulnerability. "Your wisdom never fails to inspire calm, my master. I only… I only worried after all the time you placed constructing that shadow of Palpatine, the power we transferred to it, to only have it beaten down by the two of them."

Plagueis's face clouded and he bared his teeth in a show of irritation.

"Sidious's clone was nothing more than a figurehead to act as a placeholder in our control of the First Order. Had we left it at Snoke, the path to us may have been revealed, but no one will question that Sidious was the true end game. We have bought ourselves time with that ploy, and the destruction of our little façade is nothing to waste thought on."

Releasing his uneasiness with a sharp exhale, Banshor gave a final nod. His master seemed to be contented by this action and spoke again with less tension in his voice.

"I still sense you are vexed, my apprentice. Something when you arrived?"

It was with tremendous ease that the apprentice smiled and spoke without missing a beat.

"Aigirian. He inspires annoyance by his mere existence."

"He still lauds his success over you?"

Banshor didn't need to affirm this; his master already knew it to be true and Banshor didn't want to waste time thinking about the giant bastard any more than he had to.

"Someday, master, I will take great joy in separating his head from his shoulders."

Laughter was something that so rarely graced the chambers of his master, but Plagueis issued a low, brief chuckle. "I'm sure you will."

He rose from his throne then and gestured to his table, where the Holocron that had been spirited from the Temple lay, glowing tantalizingly.

"Now. Let us see what you have brought."

''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

Murkhana City may very well have once been one of the most desirable tourist locations in the entire Outer Rim. It had hosted a wide variety of corporations that had come to try and exploit Murkhana's natural beauty, from its oceans and black beaches, to its coral reefs and cove indentions that could be rented or purchased as some of the most expensive real estate in the galaxy. The Tion Cluster had profited mightily from the planet and its hub, right up until the Confederacy of Independent Systems had conquered it. Despite the planet's desperate attempts to remain neutral during the Clone Wars, worlds without a military of their own could only truly be neutral until the Republic or CIS thought they might be useful in their game of galactic Dejarik.

By the time Order 66 had been executed, Murkhana had been so heavily pounded by orbital bombardment that the majority of its ecosystems had ceased to be, and Murkhana City had become a veil over the remnants of the populace. The wealthy had made fast getaways before the first CIS landing zones were even established, but the poorer had no means to escape, and the crime syndicates had seen more than a few opportunities, exploiting the poor, the CIS, the Republic, and each other.

The city itself was more or less in ruin still after decades following its Separatist occupation. The New Republic had been far more focused on restoring the Core's integrity and systems and the First Order had put a stop to even those efforts. Few buildings looked as though they hadn't seen their share of warfare, the once looming and gargantuan Argente Tower a pathetic mountain of rubble that still partially dominated the city's skyline. Deep below it, layer after layer of the city could be found, some in better state than others, but fifty or so years of criminal holding left even the more hospitable parts of the city less than appealing to any ship that happened to be passing by, looking for fuel or supplies.

The _Ghost _was not one of those ships.

Setting down just outside the city limits behind a spire that had been blown entirely apart, the ship rested gently on its landing gear and powered down, gas hissing from its decompression cycles and loud growling of engines coming down to gently hum, an indistinguishable sound above the distant rumble of thunder and sounds of the city below.

The ramp lowered from the belly of the ship, spilling light over the dim, soggy ground and Ben stepped foot onto it, letting the feel of the planet wash over him in the Force. He felt pain, resentment and a lulled sense of defeat as memories from Murkhana touched his mind, never fully telling him what had happened but implying enough for him to understand.

Rey was at his shoulder and he could feel her waiting for him to say something. Opening his eyes, he murmured quietly, in reverence to the planet.

"This world has seen its share of suffering. But the dark side is not strong here, I only sense a painful balance."

She nodded and took his hand. "We should go."

Ahsoka remained on the ship at her own request, Neither Ben nor Rey had argued as it was clear the reference to Ezra had been enough to debilitate the former Jedi, at least temporarily. In the minutes before they had come out of hyperspace, Ben had nearly been insistent on trying to demand answers from Ahsoka, but Rey had talked him out of it.

"_She'll tell us when she's ready,"_ she had said, and Ben had reluctantly agreed.

They started down the shattered coastal cliff, the Force letting them jump much further then should ever have been possible for a human. When they were a couple hundred meters beneath where they had landed and the terrain had turned into something much more suitable for walking, Ben glanced behind them.

"Any guesses?"

Rey let out a sharp exhale through her nose that was tantamount with a laugh. "Not a clue. I'd guess a former apprentice, but that almost seems too obvious."

Ben dropped a couple meters and reached a hand up; Rey took it and leapt down beside him as they neared the city. They both had silently reached the conclusion that Force assisted movement was likely to draw undesired attention.

"I would argue that's all the more reason to be suspicious of it. It's easy to overlook what is the clearest answer when your mind wanders off, generating more and more ridiculous possibilities."

"Maybe. But when has anything been obvious in the Force?"

As the wet rock gave away to a cracking street as they entered Murkhana City, Ben could only mutter assent. He was reminded of something Luke had told him during the earliest days of his training.

"_Until the possible becomes reality, it is only a distraction."_

Ben had found this to be true enough, but it was so often practically impossible to keep himself from guessing as to things he didn't know or didn't fully understand. For all the good Snoke… no, _Sidious_, as Ben had to remind himself so often in recent days, had done in teaching him to harness his power, how many times had he reflected on Skywalker's teachings…

"Ben?"

Rey spoke his name quietly, almost tentatively as they prepared to turn from walking the dead street onto a more populated one. He stopped and turned to her; she looked almost frightened.

"What's wrong?"

She looked to him sharply and seemed to realize how worrying her tone and expression must have been. Her face fell into an apologetic smile.

"It's nothing really, I just… how long did you know?"

She didn't specify, but she didn't need to. He could sense her implication in the Force.

"I… I am honestly not sure."

Looking skyward at the permanent grey blanket of cloud cover that likely hovered over Murkhana constantly as a result of its annihilated ecosystems, he pondered for a moment.

"I was suspect of it for a time. Your strength in the Force indicated a powerful bloodline. I thought perhaps another Skywalker, but there was a much different feel to your presence in the Force. More deliberate. More chaotic even."

Rey looked down and Ben had to smile at the discomfort that crossed her face.

"I didn't mean it that way."

She looked at him and smiled back. "I know you didn't… it's just… I don't think I'll ever really come to accept what I am."

"That's a shame. Because I have."

When he looked at her again, the beaming on her face was enough to melt his heart.

"When I saw the lightning in the desert I was almost sure. It took me hearing it from Palpatine's own mouth to really come to terms with it."

Rey turned to fully face him as the distant sounds of the city echoed towards them.

"How did you?"

It sounded like a plea, as though she wanted nothing more than to be able to do just as he had. "How could you still love someone like me after that?"

This was as humorous to Ben as anything she could have said and he couldn't help but laugh. "Rey, after everything I've done, shouldn't I be asking _you_ that?"

For this, she had no answer and he reached out and pulled her to him, the travel cloaks they had draped over their shoulders surrounding one another as they embraced.

"I get the impression neither of us are perfect to the galaxy. But you're perfect to me, and I hope that counts for something."

Her grip around him tightened and before they released one another, she pulled him down by the collar and murmured against his lips before kissing him.

"I think it's all I could really ask for."

When they finally broke apart, they adjusted themselves and walked around to one of the actual populated streets that made up Murkhana City.

It was as destitute and forlorn as the blasted coves they had flown past en route to their landing zone. Buildings melded together into dark constructions, none looking any different from the other. The constant sheen that had accompanied just about every structure on Coruscant was completely absent. None of the passing city folk were wearing anything a huge above light brown and no one seemed willing to give them a passing glance. The cold shouldering was perfect for Ben as he led the way down the street, Rey following closely in his steps.

As they walked, Ben began examining building fronts, looking for anything that resembled the dwelling of someone who could service the _Ghost_ accordingly. But the city seemed less a central hub for business then it did a den for outcasts and wanderers. Everything he had read of Murkhana seemed to be true, from its atmosphere right down to its lowliest inhabitant. As they passed under an awning that might have once belonged to a local vendor, Ben decided to try his luck with asking a local.

"Hey!"

A sharp slap and a cry from Rey drove this thought from Ben's head as quickly as anything could and he turned to see a Dug hobble awkwardly around them, smiling stupidly and looking Rey up and down as he passed. Rey's face was one of surprise and offense, and as she turned to look at her backside, the realization as to what had happened clicked in Ben's head as the Dug waves one of his hands suggestively.

Had the Dug just… spanked her?

Making a sound rather like a hiccup, it looked at the both of them before locking its focus exclusively on Rey, eyes swimming in and out of focus.

"Kava che chopah che cheeka?"

Ben didn't understand the language spoken but it wouldn't have mattered if the Dug spoke perfect Basic, its meaning was more than discernible. The Force began to pool out of Ben in and around the Dug, creating an invisible sphere of black hate. He barely had time to even think about the fact that his hand was shaking as he opened it in a gesture as though he were about to snatch a fruit from a low hanging branch. In his mind, the Dug was nothing more than a dead leaf that Ben was about to reach down and crunch down at every seam of its existence, breaking bones down to dust and smearing the street with gore. Distantly, he became aware of Rey pulling on his arm, clearly sensing his motive and emotion.

"Ben, it isn't worth it… please, we can't draw attention to ourselves!"

The intense hiss of her voice was all but inaudible against his ears. He let himself draw hate from one last look at the Dug's stupid grin before preparing to turn the thing into a dead ball of flesh and bone…

Or, at least, he was about to before a boot flashed out and kicked the Dug in the head, sending him sprawling in the damp street. A figure had swung down from above the awning and had turned his swing into a flying kick, which turned into a half spin landing. As the figure straightened, Ben got a look at a shock of white hair and a young male face, alive and vibrant.

He spoke tiredly to the being he had just planted in the street who looked no worse for having just been smashed across the mouth. His tone was as young as his face; if one could put a smirk into words, Ben imagined they would sound just like man's voice.

"Hunka be, Salama." The Dug looked up at the words spoken in a language foreign to Ben and looked with an angry pout towards Rey and gestured sloppily.

"Oto hotsa schutta!"

The stranger's face darkened then and so did his tone.

"E chu ta." Looking slightly shocked at what must have been a vulgar term, the Dug hauled himself to his spindly feet and muttered something indiscernible before hobbling away bitterly. Waiting until it was out of earshot, the stranger turned and looked at Ben and Rey apologetically.

"Sorry about Salama. When he isn't drunk off his rocker, he's as good a speeder pilot as we've got. It's just that when he _is _a little tipsy, he gets… uh, how you say… "

He looked up in though for a moment before smiling as he came to an answer.

"Handsy."

Rey stepped up alongside Ben. "That's alright. He just surprised me was all."

Pulling a grimace, the stranger threw a cautious look behind him, perhaps to make sure the Dug hadn't returned. "He had more than surprising you on his mind… "

"_Ben, it's okay, really. Don't let yourself get distracted. Remember why we're here," _Rey's voice echoed in Ben's head, doing her best to calm him and Ben realized the Force was still rippling from him in dark streams, twisting longingly after Salama who had made it to a group of fellow drunkards and seemed to have forgotten about the girl he had just tried to violate.

"_You're right. I'm sorry."_

With an effort, he willed down his negative feeling which protested, but obeyed his command steadily; his heart swelled unexpectedly when she added offhandedly, _"You're cute when you get defensive like that."_

Back in control of his feelings, Ben took the chance to size up the stranger before them. He was about six feet in height and fit, if a little thin. No more than Rey's age, a dark blue overcoat surrounded his form to which a maroon jacket and blaster holster clung to him. Across his back was something Ben had initially took as a power tool of some kind but now seemed to be some sort of sword with a large battery of some sort near the hilt. All in all, someone who was clearly used to running the streets.

Knowing their situation, Ben tried casual diplomacy. "Thank you for coming in and… defusing that."

The stranger gave a hearty laugh. "Well I saw what happened and you looked like you were about to tear old Salama into pieces too small to feed to a Kowakian."

_Worse than you know._

"But yeah, I thought I'd keep you from punting his old ass up and down the street. He's harmless, really."

A silence fell between the three of them for a few awkward seconds before the stranger bounced on his heels. "Well, I'll let you guys get back to whatever you were off to, if you're just coming into the city from the Flats or Hempmer's Cove, then-"

"We're from off world," Rey cut in. Ben had considered speaking up himself but as he heard Rey let loose this information, he couldn't help but tense up. The stranger seemed at least somewhat amenable and they would need to speak to _someone_ about their predicament, but on a world such as this, such information was dangerous to let slip.

The stranger smirked. "You know, I had a feeling. Plenty of folks got travel cloaks, but those are awful nice. And that accent is hardly native to this dump. You guys from the Core systems?"

Ben felt Rey touch him for affirmation and he allowed himself to nod, as ambiguous an answer as he could give. The stranger nodded back. "I thought so. Well if you guys were trying to get home, I'm afraid you're just about as lost as you can get. Murkhana is not used to seeing Core citizens wandering around."

"We're not lost." Ben knew that he and Rey were playing a potentially hazardous game in divulging what they were to the white haired young man. The street was relatively populated so if any funny business came up, it would be up to him to utilize some Force persuasion and convince him that they were well worth forgetting.

"Hmm. Then you came to Murkhana for a purpose. Though 'why' is a much more interesting point."

He looked behind him again. Salama and his drunken cohorts had wandered off, potentially into one of what was surely another bar. A small group of vagabonds passed in the other direction well out of earshot and what might have been a family were going door to door on the other side of the street, clearly looking for some form of charity. Seeming to reach some decision mentally, he sighed.

"Look, I'm not gonna try and get too deep into your business if you're not looking to share. But you should know about how things are done in this city now, the way it's been since the end of the Clone Wars."

A threat lingered on Ben's tongue but he withheld it, continuing his desire to pursue a more peaceful path forward. "We're not looking for any trouble."

"Afraid it's not up to me, friend. Did you catch the language me and the Dug were talking in just now?"

Ben shook his head. It had seemed a familiar dialect, but he couldn't place a name on it. Rey, however, replied quickly. "That was Huttese."

This seemed to impress the stranger.

"Not often you see someone from the Core systems who knows how to speak the language of the Hutts."

Quick to clarify, Rey shook her head. "I don't know it fluently. Just well enough to catch a couple words said here and there. And I'm not from the Core originally… when I… spent time on Jakku, a Hutt visited, looking to purchase some ships. He stayed a few months and that was where I picked up some of the language."

Furrowing his brow, the stranger smirked again. "From Jakku to the Core to here… you've sure been all over. But the reason I ask is because about twelve years ago, nobody in Murkhana City spoke Huttese."

It wasn't hard to pick up on what was being suggested and Ben finished the thought.

"A Hutt clan moved in."

The stranger nodded.

"Melick the Hutt has been in charge of Murkhana City for over a decade. A couple other Hutts followed in the couple years after she arrived. They play it like all three of them are rivals, fighting over the planet, but that's just a front; make people choose sides between the Hutts instead of giving them time to think about _themselves_ against the Hutts. Easier to keep power among the clans that way and squash anyone else trying to make a stand."

He leaned forward.

"The Hutts saw an opportunity with this planet. Plenty of exploitable resources and people, especially with no one really being in charge. They brought order in exchange for getting just about everything the citizens of this place had after the Old Republic and Separatists scorched the place. And between you and me, they get real excited when unsuspecting people from off world show up."

He paused and looked behind him for the umpteenth time and then gestured to a door under the awning. Clearly not having been used in some time, it took two rushes from the stranger's shoulder to get inside and he gestured. Rey looked at Ben and he met her eyes, seeing the questions there. As inconspicuously as he could, he rubbed the spot under the travel cloak where Luke's lightsaber hid. Rey understood his meaning and they stepped into the dark, damp room after the stranger.

Lit only by light streaming from a window several head above them, he continued.

"They put down these strict laws that ban any off world visitors from ever entering the city. That's just a ploy to trick journalists and brave tourists and whoever else to be more enticed to drop by. Then, when they're in the city and trying to be hidden, the Hutt's people come with an invitation, saying the Hutts just try and keep people away to protect the privacy and security of the people of Murkhana City. But _that's _just a ploy to get them to go see the Melick, who has her people torture the offworlders for any credits, valuables and information they have."

When neither Ben nor Rey replied to this, he made a noise of exasperation and leaned in close.

"Look, all I'm saying is, if you have business here, get it wrapped up real quick. Melick finds you two and it's gonna be a bad time. I can tell from those cloaks you've got some deep pockets and probably a nice ship to boot. They would have tracked it entering the planet's atmosphere and they're probably looking for it now."

He seemed to have said most of what he wanted to say before adding, "Oh and stay off the front streets. Hutt collectors walk them all the time, and even if you satisfy the 'passage toll' they've instituted, they'll be suspicious immediately that, firstly, you're new faces, secondly, you paid without putting up a big fuss, and third… "

Scratching the back of his head, he jerked his chin sheepishly at Rey.

"That she's not working as a Hutt slave girl."

Ben was in the stranger's face before the sentence was even finished. "I'd watch my mouth if I were you."

The stranger had no refute for this, and simply smirked at Ben. "Not trying to instigate anything. Just saying that women that pretty don't come around too often in Murkhana City and when they do, they're not above ground for very long."

It wasn't until Rey took Ben around the arm and pulled him back that he realized that his aggression was misplaced.

"My apologies."

Throwing up his hands in a sign of goodwill, the stranger continued to smile. "No harm, friend. I'll let you two go, just please think about what I said."

He extended a hand to each of them. "Name's Niroh. If you see me around and need help… well, I got nothing better to do then be of any service I can."

And as they both shook his hand, he strode past them and out into the pale light of Murkhana City's midday, not waiting for them to offer names of their own. As Ben watched him go, Rey put a hand on his chest, her voice an urgent whisper.

"Why don't we accept his help?"

Ben continued to stare at Niroh as he walked casually down the street, looking intently at the strange weapon slung over his back.

"He could be dangerous. What makes you think we can trust him?"

"How can we assume to trust anyone?" Rey rebutted. Gritting his teeth, Ben thought about it.

"He could lead us right to these Hutts."

"Why would he tell us all of those things just to do that? He didn't ask us to follow him anywhere except two meters to our right in this building and if he does try anything… "

Rey moved her hand down to touch the spot where Ben had the lightsaber stowed. He ran his hand over his mouth slowly.

"I don't like the idea of flashing lightsabers in a place like this. Even if they _are _woefully behind the times, that's still far too much attention in general."

"We have no way of knowing that won't happen anyway."

Realizing that trying to win this argument was like trying to win a fistfight with a Wookie dressed in quantum crystalline armor. Offering a silent question to the Force, all he heard back was a resounding indifference to his predicament.

Muttering a curse that caused Rey to swat his arm, he jogged out into the street, calling for the stranger.

''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

Rey dogged the steps of Niroh as he led them through the twisted maze that was Murkhana City's backstreets. Here the forlorn and broken individuals that made up the majority of the population were on full display, huddled around holodecks and fighting over a handful of credits that would have been enough for a small sandwich on Coruscant. It brought pain to her heart, but whenever it began to feel overpowering, Ben's steadfast purpose touched her heart and she would squeeze his hand, more thankful to have him there than anyone could have guessed.

"We need someone who can overwrite a ship's signature; erase the old one and make it something completely new, and preferably, as inconspicuous as possible," Ben had blurted at Niroh after stopping him in the street. The young man had only looked at them intently for a few seconds before nodding in a direction and walking off. Rey had silently hoped he would ask them to wait for him rather than having them accompany him further into the city, but she knew they were taking a risk no matter what option they were presented with.

Niroh stepped over a slumped body that was cast over the bottom few steps of a set of stairs that spiraled upwards around a building and Ben followed suit. Rey paused if only briefly, wanting to at least move the person so they wouldn't be trampled by someone less careless, but a sad whisper in the Force snapped her back straight and she quickly avoided what she now knew to be a dead body to catch up to Ben.

"How does anyone _live _here?" Rey wondered aloud as she shook the thought of the corpse on the stairs from her mind. Niroh snorted.

"Make no mistake, no one in this city _wants _to be here. Except the Hutts and their lackeys I suppose, they'd find a way to make credits off a pile of dead Toydarians. This way now, watch yourself."

They squeezed down a cramped alley and past a group of huddled Jawa sized creatures that Rey didn't recognize. They looked like human children, but they were all female and regarded her passing with a look that shone with much more maturity than any child ever could. As they came down to an opening that would spill onto a street just below a giant destroyed building, Niroh stopped abruptly.

"Hold up."

As they waited, all in close proximity, Rey took the opportunity to gently run her knuckles over Ben's lower back. She had found that he liked this a great deal when they had been holding one another in the _Ghost's_ cockpit and this was further proven as he shifted pleasurably at her touch. The smile that his reaction incited on her face faded as a low series of chanting became audible. As she watched over the shoulders of Ben and Niroh, the latter gestured and pushed them back against the wall of the alley, obscuring the three of them in shadow.

Slowly in a tight steady march, a group of about four dozen beings, all robed and hooded made their way down the street, uttering a constant series of deep chants that changed in speed and annunciation as they went. In their midst was a smaller group of about eight who were all wearing electrobinders and looking as resigned to life itself as anyone could be. As the procession made its way past and the chants began to die away, Rey slid past Ben to whisper at Niroh.

"Who were they?"

Their guide pulled a face.

"The only people other than the Hutt clans who seem content to be a part of this awful society. Cultists, convinced beyond the shadow of a doubt that their endless chanting and rituals will bring about the prophecy they got out of that old myth."

He stepped quietly into the street and looked up the way the marchers had gone and then back the way they had come.

"Alright, this way."

Ben followed obediently, clearly not dwelling on the strange sight they had just witnessed, but Rey found herself more than a little curious.

"What do they worship? What myth?"

Niroh laughed disparagingly.

"Friend, out here people will get behind anything that gives them even a little bit of hope. Those robed lunatics found just about the most supposedly omniscient thing they could find to kneel for. They pray to an old mythical being called Abeloth."

Rey couldn't have had any idea who this was, but Ben suddenly seemed curious as well, drawing up alongside them so the three walked shoulder to shoulder.

"I've heard of her."

Giving him a jokingly sympathetic look, Niroh sighed, "Sorry for your loss. That name inspires only the most awful form of fanaticism."

_He's obviously never met a Sith or a Sith follower._

She didn't say this aloud, but instead inquired, "What or who is Abeloth?"

Niroh already looked tired of the conversation, but Ben answered before he could say anything.

"Abeloth was an ancient being that was brought into being by a family of mystical beings who created her out of the Force itself. They saw her as an experiment, something they could use as a conduit to the physical reality we all live in, but she grew over time to love them as a family. Eventually, she became so powerful with all the abilities they granted her… "

"Abilities?" Rey asked.

"Yes, a whole multitide of things that the Force allowed her to do; incredible telepathic and telekinetic feats, the ability to create avatars for herself to walk in and shapeshift as she wanted, the power to split beings apart, essentially creating more life, things like that… anyway, she eventually found out they were using her and she tried to plead to the mystical family's 'compassion' but they found her awareness troubling and banished her to our world where she lived in constant suffering at the betrayal she had been dealt."

Rey processed this and then found herself shrugging softly.

"That seems like a pretty wild story to give truth to."

"Well, it would, if that was all there was to the story," Ben said, "Supposedly, she spent millennia wreaking havoc on all manner of species by assailing them with her powers or creating avatars for herself to walk our worlds in before, I think the myth sets it at four or five thousand years ago, Sith and Jedi united for a brief time to seal her away."

He nodded back the way they had come.

"I assume that's where these people got their stories; I've seen the tablets that depict the stories of Abeloth, they were uncovered from ancient Sith _and _Jedi temples, it's what made them unique. That both factions would dedicate time and energy to chronicle a tale of them working in tandem with their natural enemies to defeat a force, the strength of which could barely be conceived."

Niroh made a noise of polite surprise. "You seem to know a whole lot more about it than I. The only story I know other than the origin story is the one that these wackjobs seem to recite on the daily, the one that holds the prophecy they think will come true."

Thoroughly interested in anything that had to do with the mythology of the Force, even if it regarded something as implausible a being like Abeloth, Rey persisted.

"What story is that?"

Seeming to understand these questions might be commonplace if he exposited too much about the society he belonged to, Niroh sighed.

"Me and my big mouth… well supposedly, after Abeloth was sealed away, she found her influence, her powers, could no longer be used on the physical universe. But after some period of time, few hundred years I think, Abeloth figures out that she can _create _life that can be put into the world she was restricted from. So with all the power she can muster, she wills a being into life."

Despite his outwardly casual and condescending tone towards the religiously revered stories, Niroh caught on the name he spoke then, ever so briefly.

"Gwyn."

A small group of children came tearing around the corner out of an alley, either using fantasy and playtime to avoid their dire situation or perhaps on the run from something borne out that very circumstance. One tripped and crashed spectacularly to the mucky street; Rey half expected her to cry, but she simply pulled herself to her hands and knees wincing.

_Why would she cry at a fall? No doubt life has given her much more punishment than that, living here… _

In a move that surprised her, Ben knelt down and picked her up under the elbows, pulling her gently to her feet. She looked incredibly surprised as he did.

"Are you alright?"

She continued to stare at Ben as if he were out some dream before offering him a shy smile as though she had never heard anyone even consider asking such a thing before darting off without a word. Ben straightened and looked after her, eyes troubled. Sliding her arm around his, Rey gently guided turned him around and nodded at Niroh to continue, who was watching them in bemusement. He shook it off and turned back forwards, and began walking and speaking once again, but Rey caught him looking down and slightly uncomfortable, if only for a moment.

"Gwyn is created out of nothing more than the Force, but is brought into the world as a man, presumably birthed with the hope he would set Abeloth free. From here, things get sketchy in the story depending on who you talk to. It's pretty commonly accepted that he singlehandedly tore through a Sith army on Ruusan and then destroyed a small Jedi fleet that came to investigate the planet. The galaxy had never seen anything with power like that he wielded."

They came to a long set of stairs that worked their way down to a large door and started down.

"But where the story starts to sound different depending on whom you ask is what happened to him. Now either the Jedi and Sith worked together to try and destroy him, or Gwyn went after the one who created him either to free her or kill her."

This struck Rey as odd. "Why to kill her?"

Niroh shrugged. "Resentment. Being created for a use and nothing more, rather as Abeloth had been. Regardless, Gwyn disappeared after a few short years of terrorizing every army or species that got between him and whatever he was after. And because obviously there's no proof of a _myth_ existing, it's a moot point to say whether he was destroyed or disappeared since the odds are that he never existed at all."

He jabbed a thumb over his shoulder.

"But those cultists believe _very _strongly that one day soon, Gwyn will return to restore order to the galaxy. But since there never seems to be a concrete reason as to his motive in the story itself, such hope seems kind of misplaced if you ask me. Even if someone that powerful existed, what makes these bottomfeeders think he'd do anything to help them… "

The bitterness in his voice was apparent, but Rey wasn't sure towards whom it was directed at. Ben spoke up next to her, "And the Hutts allow this cultism to happen?"

Laughing, Niroh shook his head.

"Allow? They encourage it. If denizens of the city are more focused on being part of a religious cult rather than forming groups to rise up against the order they've installed, all the better."

Just as they reached the door, Rey remembered the helpless looking beings being herded by the hooded figures.

"What were they going to do with those people they were taking with them?"

Overcast by the tunnel that started just before the door, Niroh's face was cast in shadow as he glanced back at her.

"Pray you don't find out."

He pounded on the door four times, and a mechanical eyestalk protruded from a cavity in the door, glancing jerkily at Niroh and barking something in Huttese.

"No, I'm not here to pick a fight with Babaska, I'm here for drinks for me and my friends."

The glowing orange photreceptor turned and looked over Ben and Rey jabbing at them much more aggressively and continuing to growl dialogue. Niroh rolled his eyes as it directed some query at him.

"No, they're not from off world, they're settlers from the reef colonies stopping on their way through. They gave me a hand loading some stuff for the Hutts, I'm buying them a drink in return."

The eyestalk waited a long moment before muttering a single word and sliding back into the wall. As the door clicked and swished open, Niroh turned back to the pair of them, speaking quick and low.

"Do not, under any circumstances, tell anyone you're not native to Murkhana. Don't talk to anyone if you can help it. If you see an overly aggressive Udese, that's Babaska, a local Hutt enforcer. They don't keep him on a short leash, but they don't take him that seriously either, which in turn means he often goes picking fights with whomever he wants. Avoid him like the plague."

He smirked yet again, something that Rey was picking up might be commonplace for him.

"And just look casual as best you can."

The interior of what turned out to be a tavern of sorts was much less grungy than Rey might have expected it to be. It was very dimly lit, and most booths and tables were occupied by all manner of beings, most of whom were grasping the handle of a hearty drink. Niroh waved at the counter and a large male Besalisk waved back, looking friendly enough.

"Get my friends whatever they want, I'm paying."

As the Besalisk nodded and turned to fetch two glasses, Niroh turned to them a last time.

"Find a booth as secluded as you can and wait for me. I'm gonna go get the guy you want to see about rewriting your ship's signature."

And with that, he pushed through a throng of beings circled around what looked to be a drinking competition, and vanished into the gloom of the tavern. Rey exchanged looks with Ben and then walked to corner of the room that was lit by a single dark orange bulb and slid into an unoccupied booth against the wall while Ben walked to the Besalisk to get their drinks. Rey watched him carefully, waiting to see if anyone was going to hassle him for looking a stranger or for not recognizing him. But no one seemed to mind Ben and he walked to the booth, two flagons in hand, entirely unnoticed it appeared.

"I'm still not sure about this."

Rey took one of the flagon handles and dragged it across the table towards her.

"I knew you were going to say that."

Ben eyed her with a raised eyebrow.

"You're telling me you trust him?"

She shot him a look.

"Not remotely. But he has helped us so far and has been more than a little informative."

Ben snorted and took his own flagon.

"I wasn't aware that telling us some old Force myth qualified as being 'informative' considering it doesn't exactly seem to be unknown in these parts."

She stared at him challengingly. "If you want to walk out… " Her eyes drifted down to her own drink and she wrinkled her nose.

"What did you bring me?"

Ben laughed at her reaction before taking a swig. "Blurrgfire. Don't drink it if it's too much for you." His words echoed of a slightly condescending tone and Rey looked at him unflinchingly; he laughed before drinking again and she followed suit, then nearly spat the drink all over the table. Ben's laughter doubled and he reached across to pat her heartily on the shoulder as she pulled a face and swallowed.

"I said you didn't have to."

Rey snapped a curse at him that only caused his smile to widen and, despite the moment, Rey found his smile the most heartwarming thing she had seen since… well, the last time he had smiled. Eventually his laughter died away amongst the other sounds of the tavern and he looked off towards where Niroh had went. Rey felt her own thoughts drifting as she tried another sip of the Blurrgfire.

"You're thinking about those people the cultists were taking away."

It was impossible to hide her feelings around him, Rey knew, especially ones that were so blatantly at the forefront of her thoughts. She sighed, placing the flagon down.

"I know there's nothing we can do right now. We're barely above water ourselves. I just… "

She looked around, and in the Force, the walls of the tavern disappeared and gave way to the torn streets, half-demolished buildings, and the impoverished citizens that roamed them.

"I hate that a place like this even exists."

"I know."

Ben looked down and seemed to struggle with something mentally; Rey reached out and put her hand on top of his. He looked up and slowly gave a haunted smile.

"Of all the terrible things I did in service to the First Order and the dark side, I never once thought to think about the repercussions of the beings it was affecting. I knew that if I did, guilt would tear me down faster than anything could. And when you're driven by a purpose, even a misguided one, you can't let anything come between you and that."

His eyes shone faintly of tears.

"But even now, I still can't bring myself to face those choices. In my head, they're all just things that brought me here, to you, but I know that the screams and pain of those lesser off than I that fell to either my lightsaber or my orders… "

Ben didn't finish, but he didn't need to. Rey was surprised she even had words to reply with.

"You were a victim of beliefs that weren't your own, you are not entirely to blame."

She realized as she said them that they weren't even her words; they had been Arkin's at the opera house, part of a conversation that Rey had participated in with who might have been the only person she had felt able to trust. They had been Ahsoka's, whose calm demeanor had helped her stay focused on the present as they tore their way through hyperspace.

Ben looked at her. "… Thanks."

Hating the idea of having him sit there and wallow in his own self-loathing that Rey knew would take time to move on from, she pursued another topic of conversation, one that had been wearing distantly on her mind since they had arrived on Murkhana.

"Where do you think we should start?"

Ben's eyes glazed over with thought and Rey was pleased he was able to turn his mind elsewhere.

"I'm not sure. I think we should speak with Ahsoka about it… but I think the best place to begin would be Korriban."

The name caused a slight shiver to run through Rey. She had heard the name before, during Leia's teachings and it was not a name that inspired any positive memories.

"The true home of the Sith?"

"Yes. Snoke and I traveled there once during the early days of my training, to… test my resolve, so to speak. It's as barren and desolate a place as can be, the dark side running strong within. I would hate for either of us to have to travel there… but if there's anywhere that might have a clue to the Sith's dealings… "

It made sense, but Rey didn't like it either. How would visiting Korriban affect either of them, with Ben recovering from his years of servitude to the dark side, and Rey with her bloodline?

Ben seemed to sense her worry and nodded gravely.

"I know. We'll talk with Ahsoka about it, but I don't know if there would be a better place to begin our search for answers."

"Do you think… they might expect that?"

"Maybe. But even if they are, and it leads to a trap or something else, doesn't that confirm we're on the right track?"

Rey could see the hurt in his gaze then, the fear that a place like Korriban inspired in him and she realized that she was far from the only one combatting true fear. She squeezed his hand.

"Yes, you're right. And if it is a trap, we'll face it together. And we _will _face it down, and win."

It was hard to tell if her words were ones he believed, but her confidence caused his eyes to light up with affection. Rey would have been more than happy to sit there for a good long while and simply stare into his eyes, letting her love try and ease his damaged being, but as she thought this, a droid marched up to their booth. It looked at both of them multiple times apiece and as Rey and Ben exchanged concerned looks, it spoke.

"Annoyed statement: I rather wish my time wasn't made to be solely occupied by serving the whims of meatbags."

A silence fell briefly and as Rey looked at Ben again, she found herself on the verge of breaking into laughter at the absolute absurdity of what had just happened. But before either of them could reply, Niroh pushed his way past a couple Besalisks who were taking up a great deal of space just by standing, calling out reproachfully.

"HK, they aren't _meatbags_, they're _clients_. How many times are you gonna have to be told this before it gets through those thick circuits of yours?"

The droid half-turned to regard Niroh as he walked up.

"Observation: My physical assessment of others rarely seems to impact the job, nor the pay."

Niroh came to stand shoulder to shoulder with the droid, an irked look on his face.

"Yeah, but it couldn't help to try and make a better first impression every once in a while."

He turned to Rey and Ben, smiling apologetically.

"Sorry about him. This is HK-47 and he's your guy… well, droid, for anything to do with the workings of a ship."

Giving the droid a hopeless look, he continued, "As far as anyone can tell, HK here was an assassin droid way back during the first Sith wars, but at some point, he was shut down and put into some storage box deep down in Murkhana's underbelly. He got dug up about a decade ago, and despite a very damaged memory, he seemed to be perfectly functional."

"Commentary: I wish you wouldn't keep reminding me that I surely once had an existence far more fulfilling than this that I can no longer recall."

"Noted. Anyway, after a reprogramming to keep him from wanting to kill anything and everything that moves, breathes or blinks, he's now the best ship internalist we have as far as services are available. He'll get your ship's signature rewritten."

The droid looked at Ben; if it was possible for a droid, the look could have been demanding.

"Query: Would you kindly show me to your ship?"

''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

The apprentice paced the chamber that held his experiment, deep in thought.

_The truth, at last._

Darth Plagueis had been wise to ignore the Rey and Ben for the time being, as well as Ahsoka and any other potential Jedi lurking in the stars. Banshor had just been too preoccupied to see it.

The truth about the greatest enemy the Force would ever see, something that would outstrip the conflict between the light and dark side, Sith and Jedi, if they allowed it. Finding this threat was about to become another seemingly insurmountable task entirely, but at least now, they knew where to begin.

_Korriban._

Banshor had never visited the Sith homeworld himself, and supposed that he was somewhat exhilarated by the thought of a journey there, to uncover what the Sith of old had left behind by way of knowledge to aid him and his master. It would be an experience of his own will and dedication to the dark side, something that he was eager to test.

He walked to a small table to the right of Trilla's bacta tank where the few effects of hers that had been found in Sidious's facility lay. A helmet and a lightsaber were all that were recovered and Banshor picked up the latter delicately. It was an unsightly thing, circular vice around the hilt that would allow the dual-bladed saber to spin with ease and allow for some unorthodox additions to a duel. It struck the apprentice as a weapon built to compensate for a lack of skill in wielding a lightsaber and he wondered if Trilla had the weapon designed that way herself or if it had been a default part of her uniform as an Inquisitor of the Empire.

But as Banshor looked at the lightsaber, his elation for the discovery he had just made with his master began to wither. He set it back down and looked back at the bacta tank to the person sleeping within, and then to the mask that sat on the small table, angular and somewhat reminiscent of his own.

_How can I seek to go to Korriban to test myself… when I can't even wake a person from a coma?_

The question brought bile to his mouth and his lips peeled back to let a silent snarl escape his mouth. It was beyond frustrating to consider his constant failure, the lack of ability he had in piercing any level of her subconscious. He had tried, many times with all sorts of varying approaches, to succeed but had never even come close beyond just probing the young woman's mind.

With a start, he realized he wasn't just talking about Trilla.

He remembered what his master had said, not hours ago.

_"My apprentice, you are _jealous _of Rey… and perhaps more than jealous."_

Banshor whirled fitfully, cape lashing around him as he tried to drive the thought from his head, but despite all he could do, the thoughts of Sidious's granddaughter were unstoppably punishing. Reminders of his own fear, his own lack of power, his lack of success whaled on his mind until he could hardly bear it. Turning his head to the ceiling, invisible in the blackness of the room, he shouted as his fury rattled the walls.

"REY!"

Bellowing her name brought a shuddering relief through his body, something that let the Force ripple from him in a truly chaotic fashion as something akin to ecstasy touched his form for the briefest moment.

And then as his howl died from his lips, the Force surging out of him in a torrent of confusion and disarray, he sensed something else. A hairline fracture, followed by many more just like it, splintered against his perception of reality and the sound of glass bursting sounded through the cavernous chamber. With a tear in the Force, the lightsaber he had been clutching rocketed from the table and flew past him. Turning, he saw Trilla Suduri crouched next to the shattered tank that had held her for the better part of four decades, lightsaber ignited and angled towards Banshor. Her hair was matted down by the bacta fluid, the dark wrappings around her chest and waist a sharp contrast to the gleam that shone from her toned body that also dripped with the same fluid that had kept her alive so long.

Her large, striking eyes bore furiously at him as her voice croaked, a clear show of lack of use for a long period.

"Where am I?!"

Darth Banshor found his frustration had vanished. Turning slowly to fully face her, he crossed his arms over his chest and said nothing. Trilla shifted her weight awkwardly and the apprentice could feel her reaching into the Force to keep her steady as she swallowed.

"Answer me!"

Still, the apprentice said nothing. She took a two-handed grip on the hilt that sported two crimson bars of energy.

"If you don't answer me, I will make you."

The way she spoke told the apprentice she had a great deal of experience interrogating people before and he smiled softly, relishing the flash of uncertainty that crossed her face and then doubled in worry as his own lightsaber spat its way into fiery existence.

"You're welcome to try."


	10. Chapter 10

In the hold of the _Ghost_, Ahsoka knelt with her hands on her thighs, a position she hadn't adopted since well before the rise of the First Order. She hadn't lied to Rey when she had spoken of spending endless days meditating and reaching out in the Force, but she had long abandoned the practices she had learned as a Jedi, a still vile resentment clinging to her being. As she cast herself from the physical confines of Murkhana's atmosphere, she knew however that even with the most protective of castings she had learned from her Jedi training, she wouldn't be able to hide. And this was something that she was grateful Rey and Ben wouldn't be present for.

The lightsaber that ignited behind her was something she felt more than saw. Ahsoka was content to remain at astral as she could for the time being for she felt that if she drew herself too close to the reality of the situation, she could very easily break down.

"Are you going to kill me?"

The wielder of the blade that sizzled just feet behind her didn't reply, but she hadn't expected him to. She could feel the whirlwind of uncertainty and blistering pain behind her; any words he might have said could have been just as owed to unbridled emotion as his actual thoughts.

"We spent years looking for you."

When he did reply to this, his voice shook with enough agony to nearly break Ahsoka free of her concentration and begin crying, as she knew she would the moment she let go of the Force.

"Why didn't you find me?"

She breathed her reply as best she could.

"We couldn't… "

"You could have."

"If we had any idea where to start. You vanished-"

"I think you had a pretty good idea. But you were scared. You thought they might get in your head too, take you like they took me."

Ahsoka had to take a long slow inhale to keep herself in check. Even with all the years she had spent preparing for, and dreading, for years.

"I know you want to kill me. I can feel your need to want to make something even, though you don't know what it is."

The Force told her the grip on the lightsaber behind her wavered and shook with a sudden twitch.

"You don't know a thing about what I want."

"I suppose I truly don't. No more than I know what hurt you."

"Not even an idea? With all the postulating and lessons you gave Kanan and I about balancing our dedication to being a Jedi with dedication to the Force… all the presumptions you made, things you 'sensed' and thought were as good as the future… and you never even saw what was right in front of you with Vader."

Ahsoka would never forget that day aboard the _Ghost_ when she, amongst others, had been relentlessly pursued by the man who had turned out to be her former master.

"We were all blinded by our purpose. The progress we needed to achieve after the Clone Wars was something we hadn't yet attained."

"And it's yours now? Is that why you've taken two new apprentices? I'll hand it to you, you've sure got a knack for picking learners that are also fugitives. Although these two are probably going to be more of a handful than we were."

"They aren't fugitives. Neither were you. Just because the Republic, or the Empire, or whoever deems it so, the truth ultimately triumphs, you _know _that."

For this, he had nothing to say, and Ahsoka knew it wasn't because of a lack of opinion on the matter. The cloud that engulfed him so profusely was hammering him with misgivings, and this was surely throwing his train of thought all over. Ahsoka feared she couldn't face him, but she wanted nothing more than to uncover his ailment, the ailment that had kept him away for years, the ailment that had him convinced she had betrayed him.

She breathed his name.

"Ezra."

In the Force, she could feel him stiffen and how just his name, just one word, pierced the shadow that blackened his mind.

"Please tell me what happened. Where you were… who did this to you."

Despite everything, she felt tears leak from her eyelids as she felt his pain and embraced it. If she faced him now, the agony she felt from him could quickly devolve into a cold fury that she knew was brewing and waiting. She hadn't the faintest idea of what was plaguing Ezra, who now was closer to her than he had been since the days of the Rebellion. She could only hope… and pray that he gave her something, told her _anything_ that would clue her into how she could help him.

His voice cracked.

"I… I… "

And then, a darkness settled. One that seemed to dampen the very Force itself, oppressive and stifling. Ahsoka had to grip her lifeline in the Force with as much strength as she could muster, but with a shock as though she had been blasted with an ocean of ice water, she was forced from her meditation and crashed to the floor of the _Ghost_, reeling for air.

Ezra stood above her, looking far older than Ahsoka knew him to be. Eyes and mouth were pulled back in dread though his voice shook with the same looming anger she felt drifting around the cabin.

"You're making a mistake. Helping Ben and Rey will only lead to more hardship for the galaxy."

Abandoned by her knowledge in the Force, Ahsoka spoke to him from the floor, just a person and a friend of the man before her she thought she knew.

"How? They're two young people, looking to find the right way forward! They resist the dark side even now, they won't become what you are being twisted into!"

There it was then, a presence that had masked Ezra from her, having kept her from detecting him until he was right on top of her. It spoke for Ezra then, the fear on his face disappearing into a cruel and indifferent mask. Desperate to buy time, Ahsoka reached out in the Force, not to defend her own mind but to try and grasp at who this truly was.

"You feel it, don't you? The power of the dark side?"

Twisting to look away, she stared at the ground, trying to keep in control; of course she felt it, warping around everything Ahsoka could sense, leaking towards enveloping the whole planet. Though she knew this was what she wanted it to believe.

"There is no power that the dark side holds over me, that it holds over Rey and Ben. It only becomes overpowering if we let it, just as you have done, Ezra. We are equal in the Force, if not in our wills."

If any part of Ezra was there, feeling this verbal prod, Ahsoka had no way of knowing. The darkness continued to speak for him.

"Equality is a lie, a myth to appease the masses. It does nothing but burden the strong and make parasites out of the weak."

"Is that not what you are now? Parasite to one strong in the Force?"

Now she sensed proper aggravation. "If he was truly strong in the Force, I would not have been able to convince him to lend me his form. As it stands, this brief period of… symbiosis will only last for the moment."

He turned to exit the ship and Ahsoka reached for Ezra though she knew she wouldn't be able to find him, not entirely. Though his figure stood before her, the truth of him was a slowly revolving cyclone of blackness that she could not see through.

"Consider this a courtesy call. Steer the two lovebirds away from the path they have chosen. I have work to do and I will not see it interfered with."

"For how dismissive of them you were, are you so worried about the threat they pose?"

Ezra stopped walking briefly, and turned his head back ever so slightly. Ahsoka let out a gasp as the rumbling pain in her head began to swell to a near breaking point.

"Mind your tongue, former Jedi. If you push towards the same goal they do, you will all be destroyed. And I aim to not have any more time wasted."

A moment before Ahsoka blacked out, succumbing to the thundering against her mind, she felt a violent twitch in the Force as though something was trying to break free from the storm cloud in the Force just before her.

"_Ahsoka… I'm sorry."_

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

"Observation: It would seem to me that the discrepancy owed to the landing of this particular ship indicates a serious need to remain hidden from the public eye."

"Or they just value their privacy? Honestly, if you didn't waste so much time trying to jump to conclusions… "

"Query: If I didn't, would it not be an utter disregarding towards my programming?"

"How in the hell should I know? You'd get more business if most people didn't know you to be a total pain to deal with… "

"Statement: I am only a pain to those with either a lack of intelligence or those who are emotionally weak, a bad combination with this planet."

As they hiked up the opposite end of the cliffside towards where the _Ghost_ sat hidden amongst the crags, Rey couldn't help exchanging a look with Ben at the odd, yet generally humorous dialogue taking place behind them. Ever since they had left the confines of Murkhana City, it seemed that Niroh and HK-47 were more content to argue than not, as though every comment one of them made needed to be met with an immediate refuting. They were near to where the cracked spire gave way to the shadow under which hid their ship, and though the journey back was taking longer without the assistance of the Force, the bickering behind them was both making the trip seem much shorter and much longer than it was.

But despite the success that she and Ben had been met with, there was a very real tension that was causing a distinct stabbing in Rey's gut and she knew he felt it too. Whether it be on Murkhana or somewhere else, something strong with the dark side was causing violent ripples in the Force.

Rey thought it might be from the Sith they had fought on Coruscant, an anger or reaction to something strong enough for them to feel, or perhaps from another Sith; if he had spoken any truth, then there would surely be another, be it master or apprentice. Whatever the reason, however, Rey felt truly uncomfortable, the way she had felt just before they had left Coruscant, with that gargantuan surge of fury in the Force screaming at her back. It wasn't just behind her now, but the idea that it was growing _closer_ from a distance somehow made it worse.

"_Do you feel it growing stronger?" _Ben asked in her head, not wanting to be heard by the man or droid behind them.

"_I… don't know. That's what bothers me so much about it, there's something that's clouding its source. We might be able to meditate and reach our for it, but it feels like a cloud that stretches from one end of the galaxy to the other. Not hidden intentionally, but by the will of the dark side."_

Ben thought about this for a moment. _"Do you think it could be the Sith we met?"_

Despite all of her considerations that it could be, Rey found herself shaking her head mentally. _"There's something very different about it. It's more… omniscient somehow. Like it's completely unfeeling towards our presence. It has a focus, but that focus isn't directed at us."_

They finally came over the rise and saw the _Ghost_ sitting precisely where they left it. The shadow cast over it by the spire had slowly rotated across the plateau as the cloud-blocked suns had shifted across the sky. Rey couldn't fathom the reason why, but she found herself running at a full sprint the moment the ship came into sight.

"Ahsoka!"

Something was very wrong, and Rey knew that time had suddenly become very much of the essence. She felt Ben reach for her, but she pulled away as she drew away from her companions and grasped at the Force for balance.

Ahsoka was sitting midway down the ramp of the _Ghost_, leaning against the ramp supports as she drew in long shaky breaths. It seemed rather as though she had attempted to make her way off the ship, but hadn't managed to do it. Rey couldn't help but consider old age as a factor as she dropped down next to the former Jedi master.

"What happened?! Are you alright?!"

Ahsoka winced at the volume of her questions and Rey heard the screamed demands in her own ears, and quieted herself as she repeated first question.

"What happened?"

Rey felt Ben come up alongside her as the presences of Niroh and the droid kept a respectable distance. Ahsoka took a long, rattling inhale and just managed to whisper out.

"He…was here. Ezra."

That had not been how Rey had imagined she would hear that name again and Ben dashed into the ship, likely looking for the intruder who may have violated their sole other passenger. She couldn't manage any other words and simply watched fearfully as Ahsoka shook her head slowly.

"Something… has happened to him. The dark side has taken root in his very mind."

Ben had concluded his brief search and had knelt next to Rey just in time to catch these words; Rey sensed a similar apprehension from him but also a bubbling frustration.

"I think it's about time we talked about this Ezra."

Rey grabbed his wrist but he shook her away with startling ferocity.

"No! This isn't just about interest in some character from her past who may or may not be relevant, we're talking about someone who, apparently has been following us through the galaxy, at least since Coruscant."

He eyed Ahsoka with a look Rey had trouble seeing as anything other than predatory.

"I think you need to start talking."

Rey found her voice then, fear guiding her words just as much as her indignation.

"Ben, that's enough!"

His gaze snapped to her eyes and she saw the same fire she had seen in his eyes when he had tortured her on Starkiller base, so long ago. A wild desire and obsession with learning something that was just out of his grip. Rey hated that look, she knew that when he wore that look, very little dominated his mind other than a surging passion for need.

"Listen to yourself! We're in enough danger as is! We can't sit around and force out of her something that we can talk about when we're safely back in hyperspace… we need to focus on the now!"

She looked behind her to make sure that neither Niroh nor HK-47 were making any attempt to listen in and saw that Niroh was both making occasional glances at them while also arguing with the droid with what was taking so long to start the job. Turning back, she gave Ben a pleading glance, one that she hated having to make.

"Please. No matter what the truth behind this is, we have to remember why we're here."

For a moment, she was sure Ben would deny her and continue after Ahsoka with his anger piling into something that couldn't be slowed down. But gradually, she watched his inhales become slower and more controlled before he finally stood up suddenly, not looking at either of them.

"I suppose we should at that."

He marched back down the ramp, shouting as he went. "Droid! Here, now!"

If possible, HK-47 seemed to move with an almost cold demeanor.

"Advice: Engage in more courteous mannerisms towards the being who is doing you a service."

As Ben and the droid walked up the ship past Rey and Ahsoka, the former looked down, trying to convey an apology in her gaze.

"I'm sorry… it's just that after everything… I think he's terribly wound up and everything seems to be some shadow that he's frightened of, that he can't seem to shake… "

Ahsoka let out a soft, breathless sound that could have passed for a weary laugh.

"I'm not resentful of Ben Solo. Whatever he thinks, it cannot help to have a factor like myself and my past doing a number on his paranoia."

She pushed herself slowly to her feet, waving a hand at Rey who reached out to offer silent help.

"He is right to be cautious, to be suspicious. The galaxy is no friendlier a place than it was thirty years ago, or fifty years ago or a hundred. The dark side has its roots planted everywhere and I cannot pretend that Ben's… predisposition is anything to take for granted."

Without giving Rey a chance to reply to this, she too entered the ship's hold, leaving Rey to stand there, mouth slightly agape and eyebrows knitted in dissatisfaction.

This wouldn't do, this distrust, this apprehension. Despite everything that had happened and everything she and Ben were committing to by moving forwards with their plan, this wasn't something Rey could permit. Not Ben's old feelings and habits resurfacing, even if they were warranted. She had never even considered what might happen if he were to resort to his old ways for whatever purpose. And she was terrified to think that they might still be there intentionally.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you folks are in an awful hurry."

Niroh's voice was a soothing touch, something she was able to lean back on and let out a long sigh towards the grey blanket that overcast them.

"It's not so much that we're in a hurry… "

Rey trailed off, suddenly realizing that she was in danger of letting out some less than desirable information to have floating around. She found she needn't have worried though, as Niroh all but finished her thought for her.

"… it's that you're looking to not get caught up to."

She turned to face him and saw a disarming smile on his face. It was with restraint that she kept herself from reaching into the Force to call a warning to Ben that it may be time to heed his worry.

"Maybe you both are a secret to the rest of the Outer Rim, but I had just come from one of the Hutt's relay centers before I ran into you. No one every pays much attention to any kind of Core related news or big stories since they never seem to affect us… but I always keep an ear to the HoloNet when I can."

He turned his back to her and laced his fingers behind his head, and Rey sensed a great sadness from him then even as she slid her hand into her travel cloak as gently as she dared, gripping the hilt of Leia's lightsaber.

"Not sure how obvious it was, but I want off this planet, Rey. Yeah, I know your name… that guy the leader of the First Order, huh?"

Something feeling of panic was beginning to pound in Rey's gut and it was everything she could do to just keep a straight face; somehow she was able to reply to him in a voice that wasn't shaking.

"The Senate has it wrong. We're off to clear his name and shut down whatever it is that is looking to destroy us."

"Hmm."

His singular response was hardly acceptable or readable and Rey dug into the Force to try and gain a grip on his motivations, but all she found was something akin to a fogged mirror. She was reminded of the cave she had ventured to when she had been training under Luke, how she had been looking for answers and how there had been nothing there for her. This was similar, but it wasn't so much as there was something being hidden by Niroh.

To her perception, it was more as though there was nothing to read.

"To me… it's just crazy that the whole galaxy seems to be so fixated on just two people, two individuals. It was like… I don't know, I guess you haven't seen anything on the HoloNet?"

He glanced back at her with inquisitive eyes and Rey shook her head once.

"Figured. Coruscant is going absolutely nuts. The Senate is looks like they're trying to place the blame, the most recent tale I've heard is that the Supreme Leader used some sort of 'Force influence' I think they said to trick you into letting him out and then you two took off."

Though Rey should have guessed they would likely be doing plenty to smear one or both of their names, that lie was something that caused her to swell furiously. As if Ben hadn't been treated unfairly enough, now they weren't even considering Rey as a potential accessory in the crime? Her friends amongst the Resistance and Senator Vicly probably had a different idea, but for the whole _planet_ to be caught up in a lie like that and to have it be spreading… what about Arkin? Rey realized that she had no idea if he had managed to escape suspicion. Suppose someone saw him help her and Ben? Suppose he had been captured? Suppose he was currently being…

"It hasn't been like that since.. oh man, well since the First Order fried all those worlds. Crazy really."

Aboard the ship, Rey heard Ben call her name and she felt a tug of relief followed by something akin to paralysis. How could she let Niroh out of her sight now? He still wasn't looking at her, nor was he really seeming to be that overall concerned with the situation he had just presented to her. Gravity of it aside, it was like he had been discussing Murkhana's gloomy weather.

Her decision was promptly made for her.

"Niroh!"

A voice snapped out from her peripheral, and she yanked her head to the left to see an Udese, followed by about a dozen of variously armed beings, toting anything from vibroblades to heavy blaster rifles. Despite his overall apathy towards what he had just been casually discussing, this seemed to cause Niroh's gaze to blanket with a grim seriousness.

"Babaska," he growled by way of reply.

The Udese, clearly in charge, stepped forward heavily and confidently, any expression hidden behind his mask.

"You've done well."

He gestured to the _Ghost _and then his expression turned to look at Rey, and she could feel the being's excitement begin to grow.

"We'll take the fugitives now."

'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

The duel was almost enjoyable.

Banshor had no way of knowing what tactics or forms Trilla might try to bring to bear upon him, and this unknown factor played heavily into his desire to draw out a fight. She began clumsily, likely entirely due to her long spell in the bacta tank, but as the Force returned to her, it guided her movements and reflexes, allowing her to fall back into what was most likely the most comfortable attack pattern for her.

It was a saber form that was pretty much entirely its own, the apprentice could tell by the general lack of elegance that went with it. It was frantic and aggressive, complemented by jumps and Force repulsions that were considerably strong. The room was blown to tatters within a minute, but it became clear to Banshor quickly that this wasn't going to be like matching up to Rey.

Trilla was trained only insofar as a basic knowledge was concerned. Her ability with a double-sided lightsaber and her strength in the Force would surely have made lesser Jedi and the denizens of an Empire ruled galaxy run for cover, but against him, she had little chance. He maintained a defensive stance as she bombarded him with powerful overheads and Force blasts, jumping and flipping around to try and distract his gaze. Banshor allowed the fight to be taken out of the room, through his chambers and into the broad hallways of the _Calamity._

Distantly, Banshor heard the blaring sound of alarm klaxons, but he barely paid them a moment's notice until they resulted in Commander Beauser and a small company of Sith troopers marching sharply down the hallway. They halted when they saw the conflict at hand.

Sensing their surprise and apprehension, he finally spoke, though not to Trilla.

"Anyone interferes, I will personally disembowel you."

This seemed to be well enough said and the Sith troopers did nothing more than fan out to form something of a perimeter around the duel, likely to keep any approaching crew away from the violence.

Eventually, even the apprentice tired of the proceedings; Trilla was clearly not used to duels that had lasted this long prior to her long nap and she was wearing herself out. The blows seemed to merely glance off Banshor's blade and she no longer attempted to use the Force to attempt any offense, simply holding onto it in an attempt to stable herself.

The apprentice shattered that bond in the Force by blasting her against the wall with a surge of Force lightning. He felt her concentration break and she screamed for only a few moments before he ramped the power up enough to drop her into unconsciousness. Even as her awareness faded, he felt a lingering rage that was the most curiously appealing thing he had felt that fight. Beauser finally approached him from behind as he loomed thoughtfully over Trilla's form.

"My Lord… what… what is this?"

A tint of humor touched Banshor as he realized how odd this might seem to a simple member of the ship's crew. He had no obligation to inform the commander though, and he spoke orders rather than an explanation.

"Take her to the medical bay. Have her secured with Force-suppressing harnesses and inform the medical staff that she will likely make several attempts to escape when she wakes."

Beauser said nothing more other than barking the orders along to the Sith troopers that had accompanied him. As they took her away, Banshor took one last look at her face and saw the fear still etched there.

He smiled.

Making a half-hearted attempt to restore the blown out portions of his chambers, he spent a couple minutes with the Force, trying to reassemble the walls and ceiling to something passable before shrugging it off and calling in maintenance to deal with it; after all, it was what they were aboard for. He had much more important matters to attend to.

As he began to work his ways back to Plagueis's chambers, Nizhia came off one of the passing lifts and practically skipped up to him. The apprentice might have snapped a remark at the carelessness of the young pilot's behavior, but not only was he in a good enough mood that he didn't mind to, he also deep down knew it was a pointless endeavor.

"I heard that some psycho woman attacked you, my Lord."

The assessment of what was likely an already rapidly evolving rumor caused Banshor to chuckle.

"I suppose that did happen."

The look of shock on Nizhia's feminine face told him that even just a short laugh such as that was something he had never offered once around any of his crew, and the apprentice cursed himself silently. It was so easy to become disarmed around Nizhia when you weren't paying that much attention; he was so much like a clueless child that it was easy to forget he was actually of sharp and sound mind, despite his mannerisms.

He corrected his error by blowing past it and demanding, "Where are you hearing this from?"

The surprise faded from the pilot's face and he shrugged.

"Around. Everyone in the upper sector is talking about it, and most people have been trying to get a look at her in the medical bay and—"

Banshor cut him off by snapping his commlink on and barking into the piece.

"Medical personnel are not to let _anyone _in to see the recently arrived female!"

It wasn't as though he was worried about her privacy, but only the medical staff were properly dosed in Force suppressant drugs that would keep them from being Force-persuaded and the last thing Banshor needed was for Trilla to convince some Sith trooper that he would be much happier gunning down his fellow soldiers than serving his duties. An oversight he might have missed if Nizhia hadn't said anything.

They walked a long several seconds in silence before the apprentice found himself slightly… uncomfortable? He stopped walking abruptly.

"Is there something you needed, pilot?"

Nizhia straightened sharply as though Banshor had just jabbed him with his lightsaber, eyes growing even wider as he looked over nervously.

"No, I… suppose not. Just wanted to remind you I'll be by after the officer's meeting to go over the ship reports and updates."

Doing nothing more than nod slowly, the apprentice remained standing still and stalwart before uttering softly.

"Dismissed."

Nizhia seemed more than happy to comply and he darted off around the corner of a hallway, leaving Banshor alone in silence, the occasional creak of the ship and the distant hum of electronics being his only company. It was several long seconds before he started walking again, and even then, he had to remind himself of his own destination.

'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

"Melick will be most pleased. Perhaps if you ask him, he'll even make you one of his enforcers."

Babaska spoke as he slowly paced towards the _Ghost_. Rey tried to force down her feelings of betrayal that were cutting at her gut like a Gundark, instead reaching into the Force and grabbing Ben's hand. It was clear by his measured grip in return that he had sensed the influx of beings that had joined them on the plateau, though Rey could tell he was trying to decide the best course of action.

If she and him attacked, it all but confirmed they were who the Hutt's men thought they were and should any escape or contact anyone before they were able to cut them all down, word would reach the Hutt that they were indeed on Murkhana and who knew where the Hutt might distribute that information. But as Rey eyed Babaska's entourage, she was genuinely unsure if there was a peaceful solution to be found.

Niroh had remained silent as Babaska walked around the ship to stand before him and Rey, looking terribly at ease.

"Not a bad ship, either. Coruscant will likely be so pleased to have these two that they won't even mind that the ship has… well, vanished."

Some sycophantic laughs echoed from being the Hutt enforcer and he gave them an appreciative glance back before he looked back forward and gestured to Rey.

"Why don't you call for your fugitive friend to step off? This can be resolved very painlessly if you let it."

Rey didn't react other than to fix a glare on the Ubese's mask; she couldn't Force persuade him with all of his men there, she had never tried to nudge the mind of more than a half dozen beings at a time, and there were well more than that now, and who knew if any of the species were Force resistant. Very carefully, letting the Force guide her words, she chanced an annoyed façade.

"I'm sorry, but I haven't the slightest idea who you people are or why you're after us. We're from Naboo, and we stopped to have a ship mechanic have a look at our hyperdrive. We're already heading for Coruscant as is, but our ship has been giving us grief."

She put some influence not on the being himself, but rather slipped it into her very words and Rey somewhat felt some of Babaska's excitement slip into unease or perhaps even doubt. His words were less than hopeful to her though.

"We will see."

In Huttese, he barked some orders behind him and four of his men began to march forward, likely to either grab her or search the ship; Babaska turned back and suddenly grabbed her by the upper arm.

"Regardless of who you are, the Hutt will have her uses for you."

He gave her a sharp pull towards him and past Niroh; she brushed against him as she was pulled by and as she was, Rey heard him murmur something under guise of a loud inhale.

"Run."

What happened next was nearly to fast for Rey to comprehend. The force pulling her by the arm slackened immensely, but the fingers remained clasped tightly around her bicep. That same force dropped away entirely and as Rey looked, she saw that it was because the arm that had grabbed her was no longer attached to its owner. Babaska looked at the stump near his shoulder and was able to let out a single piercing shriek before Niroh's free hand grabbed his heavy blaster pistol and burned a hole neatly through his mask and out the back of his head.

The Hutt's enforcers weren't oblivious and it took them only seconds to shout out and raise their weapons and unleash a hail of laserfire that torched the area around them. Rey let the Force guide her into a measured leap to land by the ramp of the _Ghost_ and she rushed up into the ship, colliding with Ben on her way up. He looked at her with wide eyes.

"What—"

He only got a single word out before she was past him to the satchel she had left on board. Yanking free her blaster, she rushed back down the ramp and dove out of the ship into a roll that landed her behind some old debris, likely from the spire that had collapsed decades ago and aimed over her newfound cover.

It turned out Rey needn't have worried. Over half of the Hutt's enforcers were motionless on the ground, either with blaster marks on their heads or missing their heads entirely. Niroh was staying close to them as he whirled in their midst like a small cyclone, his strange sword cutting into them and his blaster taking the occasional shot at any of the others that weren't near enough to be in reaching distance of his blade.

_This is how he's survived_, Rey thought as she added her blasterfire to the mix, aiming at those the furthest from Niroh. Another blaster joined the din and Rey felt Ben taking cover by the ramp, firing with one of the rifles that had been on board the _Ghost._ Amongst their Force-assisted firing and Niroh's carnage, they were left alone on the plateau within seconds. An eerie silence took over as the smell of charred bodies wafted over the cliffside.

"Statement: Though informed it is no longer my area of trade, I would be most grateful if the next time there are meatbags to be pulverized, I would be invited to join."

HK-47 stood at the bottom of the ramp and was looking around at the smoldering and bleeding bodies with what could have been something resembling regret, if such an expression could have been possible on a droid. Ben was the first to snap into action, snapping at the droid to get back on the ship. Rey rushed up to him.

"Wait, why?"

Ben watched the droid shuffle hastily back onto the _Ghost_ before turning to her.

"It's seen us. If anyone back in the city pieces _anything _together, they'll get into its head. Anything it's heard us say, anything it's seen will be fair game once they cut into it. We take the droid and either keep in on board or destroy it ourselves."

"HK wouldn't blab on you two."

Rey and Ben both turned. Niroh was cleaning his blade by revving the battery neat the hilt of his blade; the metal became so hot that the blood soaked onto it was burning away into a pungent steam, leaving the weapon spotless. When he caught them both staring at him, he shrugged.

"It's not in his programming. For all the crap he talks, he's never once disclosed anything about any of his clients. Whether that's something he's been doing forever, or something that happened after his memory got wiped, he's a loyal droid."

He looked back down the way they had come that the Hutt's men had surely taken to get up to them as well.

"You should get going though, regardless. If I know Babaska, he told Melick what he thought was happening and then went up after us without waiting for orders. There will be more on the way."

Seeming satisfied with how his blade looked, he slung it over his back and stood up.

"Smart of you both to not use your lightsabers. When they find the bodies, they'll just see blaster damage and phrik metal wounds. That's not all too uncommon."

Ben stared at him, mind clearly working quickly.

"How did you—"

Rey stepped beside him and took his hand, relieved to be able to hold him herself once again.

"He knows."

Niroh laughed.

"Even if I didn't, I saw your lightsaber when you bent to help that kid in the street. That was when I figured you guys were either undercover Jedi or something else entirely. Just happened to hear the HoloNet reports this morning anyway, and I sort of put two and two together."

A serious look crossed over his face and he looked specifically at Rey.

"I didn't ring the bell on you. I'm guessing someone at the bar recognized you, or someone on the streets or something, but it wasn't me. Regardless of what Babaska said."

Rey didn't say anything, but once again, reached into the Force to try and sense Niroh's motivations and she could feel Ben doing the same. As it had been moments ago, however, she couldn't pick up on anything, absolutely nothing that told her what Niroh might have done or what his intentions were. Just a blank slate, a foggy piece of glass. In the Force, she could feel Ben's frustration and she knew he was being met with the same result. Whoever Niroh was… whatever he was, the Force didn't seem to be even aware of him.

Niroh stared at them bemusedly and Rey realized they likely looked rather odd staring at him as they were. Then, Ben surprised her as much as he could have.

"Come with us."

Niroh simply looked at him, the expression on his face unreadable.

"You're joking."

"I'm not."

Before Niroh or Rey could say anything, Ben gestured around finally pointing towards the city.

"You all but said it yourself; you don't want to be here, no one wants to be here. You've been looking for a chance to get away and I don't to hear it from you to know it's true. The droid will surely prove useful and we need someone who knows how to play to its good side like you clearly do."

He cocked his head, looking over Niroh's shoulder.

"Besides, you're not bad in a fight."

Something resembling hope was dancing over Niroh's face but he said nothing; Ben sighed with an air of finality.

"Look, if you really know who we are, and believe that there's even a chance we're not guilty of what they say I am on the HoloNet, I can't think of a better reason to take you along as a travel companion, at least for the time being. We left Coruscant with the idea that no one in the galaxy would do anything more than scream bloody murder if they knew who we were, but you've proved otherwise."

Looking back towards the _Ghost, _Ben crossed his arms.

"Take it or leave it, but as you said, we're out of time."

Niroh's gaze fixed on the ground and Rey watched his chest slowly rise and fall. Even if she couldn't feel him in the Force, she could tell his emotions were still running wild and as he looked up with a wide smile, it was clear why.

"I would be more than happy to accept."

Ben said nothing but jerked his chin; Niroh understood the movement and he dashed aboard the ship as Ben called after him.

"Tell the droid to heat up the engines!"

After several seconds, the _Ghost _rumbled to life. Rey looked over to Ben, feeling something like pride in his articulation.

"That was very… kind of you, Ben. I wasn't sure how to offer, but I wasn't sure if it would be prudent. Did you sense something I didn't?"

But as she looked at him, Rey saw his eyes were clouded with distrust and misgiving.

"No. And that's the problem."

He didn't even spare her a glance as he moved to make his way up the ramp.

"I'm not asking him along to be kind. I asked him along because I'm not letting him out of my sight."

Just before he ascended and was swallowed into the _Ghost's_ cabin, he muttered back to her.

"He was coming along regardless of what his answer was."

And then he was aboard, leaving Rey to stand for over a minute on Murkhana's damp soil, feeling very unsure of not only her own perception of the Force, but also of the man that she loved above anything.

''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

Hidden by and cloaked in shadow, Ezra watched the ship that he had once flown all across the galaxy in, evading the Empire and doing what was possible to bring hope to the galaxy, take to Murkahana's grey sky and lunge into hyperspace. The tracker he had placed onboard still blinked accordingly and told him what he had already guessed at.

He had barely been able to resist striking down Ahsoka just an hour prior but as the _Ghost _took her and her newfound companions to where he knew they must be headed, he felt an anxious lurch at the idea of having to run across them again.

This time, they would have to be stopped.

Ezra looked away from the sky and worked his way back down the cliffside to where his ship was located. As he walked, he thought to the passengers aboard, specifically to the Murkhana native that had inexplicably joined Ahsoka, Ben and Rey. Had it been out of a desire to see the galaxy? To make a difference against some evil that he couldn't possible comprehend?

Ezra couldn't help but be reminded of himself when he was but a child. Stupid, obnoxious, dreamy-eyed, just looking to make some kind of positive difference. How insignificant that all seemed now.

It wasn't as though he hadn't done anything of note, that he hadn't accomplished things that changed the course of the war against the Empire. But the Empire paled so much in the face of what he was now, of what the galaxy was slowly being twisted by that it was impossible to think of his younger self's actions as anything but a waste of time.

It was coming back then, he felt it. Leaning against the rocky cliffside, he closed his eyes and grit his teeth. His control over it was something he didn't know if he ever might truly master, but every time he pushed it away, there was always the hope it would be gone forever. This was foolish thinking though, this was something much greater than a feeling or a worry. Ezra was its slave, and it was all he could do to try and cling desperately to his own will.

Yavin-4 had been the crowning peak of his failure, of a rash belief that he was capable to withholding everything the dark side had to throw at him. After being able to face Darth Vader and live, what could the dark side have in store that could surprise him, that could throw him off? He was infinitely more powerful when he had made the pilgrimage to those ancient temples of the Jedi, strong with all facets of the Force. Perhaps that was what had allowed him to lower his guard and become completely enamored with the idea that he was untouchable.

Kanan would have been disappointed.

Ezra threw back his head and howled, letting the Force billow from him in a powerful shockwave that ripped up through the atmosphere of Murkhana. Any ship that might have been passing that way would have been flung through the sky like a snowflake in a blizzard, but as always, Ezra was alone.

At least until _he _came.

In a way, having him there was almost relieving. Proof that he wasn't permanently alone as his mind had brought him to think. Proof that his trip to Yavin-4 hadn't been a wild Bantha chase.

But as Ezra collapsed against the side of his ship and closed his eyes, waiting for the swarm of darkness to overtake him and set him back on the course he so desperately wanted to avoid, he knew there wasn't a thing in the galaxy he wouldn't give to be free, to be alone.

But loneliness was a luxury for the dead, and Ezra was anything but.

Ezra was anything but free.


	11. Chapter 11

Bound tightly to yet another prison, Trilla awoke in a fit of distress, nightmares clawing at her startled consciousness. She had been fleeing down brightly lit corridors, but at every turn, an indiscernible shadow approached her, slow and calculated, well-aware she had nowhere to escape to. He was gone now from her sight, but in her mind, he still loomed, oppressively present; what would happen when he came for her again?

Her bonds appeared to be of a compound she didn't recognize, some metal that shone with a gentle enough glow to be clear even in the well-lit chamber she was confined to. Lying on a bed of some sort, she growled and tugged at her restraints which expectedly didn't budge. Gathering the Force to her as best she could in her bleary and slightly panicked state, she tried persuading the metal bands that they wouldn't be more comfortable not wrapped around her limbs, but as she did, there was a stabbing pain that seemed to slice directly down her spine. Gasping, she twisted in pain and the agony vanished just as quickly.

"It would be wise to not try and call on your knowledge of the Force again. Those bonds are more than sufficient for using pain to keep you where we want you."

Trilla snapped her head in the direction of the voice and realized that she hadn't even thought to see if she was alone in her confinement. While the room appeared deserted enough, only a sleeping pair of med droids tucked away, likely to tend to her, in a dark corner near the entrance to the room leaned a single figure who had addressed her.

"The sensors in the machine will detect any attempt to feel into the physical world through the Force. And you just felt the machine's response to that detection."

When Trilla spoke, her voice still ached from its lack of use for likely an extended period, "Where am I?"

"I'm having you along for the time being as my guest. But considering I don't know that much about your current intentions… that is the reason for your restraints."

As memories and recollections washed over her with an unbridled intensity, Trilla lay her head back and tried to control her breathing.

"Did Lord Vader mean for me to live?"

The figure didn't reply to this immediately and after several long seconds, she looked back up to see that he had stepped into the light. A handsome young face greeted her, short white hair thrown back as he regarded her with stabbing eyes. It was the same face that had been her last memory before blacking out as forks of blinding blue lightning had tortured her into unconsciousness. Black robes clung to him and she immediately began to guess what sort of rank he held within the Imperial system.

"Are you an Inquisitor?"

The man laughed through his nose and began to pace ever so slowly in front of Trilla's bed.

"There are some things we're going to have to catch you up on, Trilla Suduri."

It shouldn't have been a surprise he knew her name, but hearing it out of a mystery person's mouth was enough to catch her for a moment. The stranger paced alongside the right side of her bed and looked down at her as a scientist might regard a particularly enthralling specimen.

"What is the last thing you recall before you woke in my chambers early this morning?"

He spoke as if he were in total control of the situation and even if he was, Trilla had learned how to keep a tight mouth.

"I don't even know who you are. And I will not betray secrets of the Empire to any potential enemy."

He raised an eyebrow in her direction and crossed his arms.

"The Empire? Lord Vader? Trilla, though it may be of some surprise to you, there is no Lord Vader. There is no Empire. There hasn't been in over thirty years."

Trilla had been prepared to hear lies, to hear things that might persuade her into revealing pieces of her Imperial knowledge, but this was far from what she had expected. And though she dared not draw from the Force to try and piece together his motivations and potential lies, there was something that told her he was telling the truth. Gritting her teeth and yelling against her restraints, she snapped her head to look at him in frustration, black hair flying about her face.

"Who are you?!"

He didn't hesitate.

"Darth Banshor, lord of the Sith, at your service."

Her mind reeling, she tried to quantify this man's existence into the world she knew. A potential apprentice of Darth Vader? Someone hired on to test her obedience to the Empire by toying with her perception of time and events? Someone who… was telling the truth?

No, she couldn't believe that.

The man continued, "I would estimate that you were in servitude to the Empire in its early days when the Inquisitor program was still well underway. The Emperor trashed it for the most part after Inquisitors proved to be unreliable and a bloating of high-ranking resources, especially with the regional governors doing just fine."

Feeling something akin to desperation clinging to her psyche, Trilla shook her head furiously.

"That's impossible! We the Sisters were only three years into service and there were still… "

He drawled over her, clearly not paying her discomfort any heed.

"Ah, the Sisters? So you were a part of the earlier batch… in that case, if I'm estimating this somewhat accurately, you should know of the construction of the Death Star?"

This ensured that he was deep in the folds of the upper echelon of Imperial hierarchy. Not even all the Inquisitors were aware of the superweapon's construction and few knew the actual size and scale of the project. He read her lack of a response as confirmation and nodded.

"The Death Star was completed. And destroyed early into its life."

Her racing thoughts came to a grinding halt.

"Destroyed… ?"

"By a small force of Rebel pilots, yes. Due to the actions of one defective Imperial scientist, a weakness was opened in the Death Star that allowed a small fighter to set off a chain reaction that would destroy the space station entirely. This weakness was taken advantage of and the Death Star was destroyed."

As Trilla gaped at him, he seemed to take her bafflement in stride.

"But never you worry, the Emperor, or Darth Sidious, ordered the construction of a second battle station with more complicated and powerful specs than the first. But once again, the Rebel Alliance was able to destroy this station a ways into its construction and destroyed it, with both Darth Sidious and Darth Vader aboard."

She could only stare at him, utterly dumbfounded as he spun this tale before her.

"This was over thirty years ago. With the death of the Emperor and his right hand, the Empire itself crumbled before the New Republic, headed by the Rebel Alliance. The universe was freed from a tyrannical grip and after more tampering by a much more powerful force puppeteering the First Order, the New Republic is just as confused as it always was since its inception."

He strode around the other side of her bed and examined the machines that were blinking and beeping life into her weakened form.

"I've told you my true name. I've shown you my face. I do this for one reason and one reason alone. Because if you do not comply with the new order of things, then you will wish you had stayed in that bacta tank."

''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

"… and whatever that was, whatever he encountered fueled what he said before he departed. And that is the whole truth of the matter, as much as I know if it."

Feeling as though she had just run the length of a podrace lap, Rey let out a long sigh, mirroring Ben who sat next to her. Ahsoka was across from them, hands clasped and her eyes glowing of an apologetic and hurt nature.

They had just finished listening to the history of the man named Ezra as Ahsoka knew it and it felt as though days had passed since the explanation had begun. From an eager and innocent Rebel to a Jedi who had been savagely corrupted by something strong in the dark side of the Force, this was indeed a character that they needed to be wary of, even if they had no way of knowing where he was or what exactly his plans were.

Ben spoke with a low edge in his tone, "And you're sure he warned you specifically against Korriban?"

Ahsoka nodded once and Ben pulled a frustrated face and got to his feet. This wasn't the first time he had since they had all sat to discuss this; more than once, he had pushed himself angrily away from the table and paced the cabin in aggravation. Rey couldn't do more than watch him and she hated that she could see leftovers of habits that had surely guided his thinking as Kylo Ren present amongst his movements.

"Do you have much knowledge of Force possessions?" Rey thought to ask. She didn't really know who it was directed towards, but this was a topic that she hadn't come anywhere near broaching with Leia and this sounded of a serious nature. Ben was the first to reply, waving a hand aggressively.

"Legends. Legends that probably took root in something factual; we can't pretend to know everything the Force allows beings to do, I mean, look at us."

He gave her a warm look amidst his trepidation then and Rey felt a small surge of affection run up her gut before his face darkened again.

"There were stories of Sith spirits possessing Force-sensitive people and using them as vassals to achieve some greater purpose that they hadn't been able to achieve with a body of their own. Jedi spirits usually confined themselves to places, temples and buildings of worship usually. And though these were just stories, and took place thousands of years ago, this… situation sounds very much like that has taken place here."

Ahsoka chimed in then, her voice a cautious breeze next to Ben's frustrated gusts.

"He's fighting it, whatever it is. I heard both him and whatever else has chosen him as a host. I don't know if this is something he can defeat or even something he can struggle against indefinitely, but at the present moment, I believe he is trying to relinquish its grip on him."

Rey looked to her, "Was Ezra strong in the Force?"

Ahsoka seemed to grapple with the best way to answer that question before lowered her head and sighing.

"Not particularly. Not in so much as I ever saw. If this… force was something that reached him later in his journey as a Jedi, he may have grown stronger, but when I knew him, I knew that his ability and reach in the Force would leave him vulnerable to beings like my former Master. Kanan believed in him though… I believe because he wanted desperately to know there was someone else out there besides myself who could make a meaningful stand against the Empire. But we pushed him too much. He was… a kid. Just a kid who had not the upbringing we did, who wasn't as in tuned with the Force as we were and who we stupidly thought would… "

"Ahsoka."

Ben interrupted her as anger began to cause her words to shake and Rey realized as Ben cut her off that several supply cases and equipment pieces were levitating around her. Ahsoka looked up suddenly and realized what she was doing before swallowing down what likely could have turned into a furious release of her emotions. The objects gently floated back to the floor of the _Ghost._

"I'm sorry. Guilt has been the hardest thing to try and reconcile with him, it's the reason I don't think I ever went looking for him again after the first time and his trail went cold. Even if I found… _something_, it wouldn't take away the pain of seeing him again and knowing the resentment he would rightfully hold against me."

Ben's words were sharp and rough.

"That doesn't matter anymore."

Both Ahsoka and Rey looked to regard him with surprise and he swallowed himself before carrying on.

"There is clearly something more at stake here than your regret and your past. The Force brought the three of us together, it led us off Coruscant and directed us to the very planet the person from _your _past is warning us away from. I don't believe in coincidences, and neither should either of you."

Despite the brashness of his words, Rey sensed a maturity that caught her by surprise. Not knowing of anything to say, she turned to Ahsoka who was nodding gently.

"You're right. I mourn for my relationship with Ezra, and I wish for a chance to make things right, but I've sensed the same. There is something more at work in our journey and I will not let myself be blinded by my past mistakes."

She straightened herself, her face hardened with resolve.

"I apologize for my withholding; it could have put us in much greater danger than it did and it was all due to my fear of not wanting to confront what Ezra might have become. From now on, I won't seek to hide anything from either of you."

And Rey believed her; the look on Ben's face was a little harder to read, but there was little else that could be done to sway his mind. For now, she would just have to do what she could to keep an eye on him and ensure that he didn't go hounding her for answers that may or may not exist. For now, this was enough.

From the direction of the cockpit, Niroh's voice shouted back.

"Ten minutes to Korriban!"

He and HK-47 had been excused to the front of the ship as to not be caught up in potentially personal conversations that weren't any of their business. At the very most, they were temporary passengers as Ben had been certain to make clear, but Rey had yet to approach him about what exactly was to be done about Niroh. She saw no harm in simply making a brief stop on some other outer rim world and letting him and the droid depart, but Ben had made it clear that they were to repay their passage with service aboard the ship as crew. Or so he told them; Rey knew that he was just covering for the sake of having his own figuring to do, particularly on Niroh. Something was amiss in Ben's mind regarding that passenger, and Rey was trying to figure what he was hoping to prove.

She got to her feet and walked to the cockpit. As she walked between the chairs that housed both of their new crew members, HK-47 turned to regard her with a mechanical turn of his head.

"Statement: Despite the time in realspace we spent synchronizing the ship's new signature, we are only an hour behind our original schedule."

"Thanks, HK."

The droid had taken an odd shine to Rey since they had left Murkhana; despite its rude and outgoing demeanor towards most of them, it had gone to her in particular when seeking orders and direction on duty as opposed to any of the others. While it was more bemusing than anything, Rey had taken a distant pleasure in watching it practically shoulder pass Ben and ask her how to be of service while he stared at it in offense.

"Do you have the readings for the Korriban's outer atmosphere?"

"Response: I have uploaded and transferred them to the mainframe in the cabin. They are also available to view here, should you wish."

"No, that's alright. I'll give them a look in the cabin; thanks."

Giving Niroh a nod as she walked back to rejoin Ben and Ahsoka, she tried to ignore the look of almost wild excitement in Niroh's eyes that he had displayed since they had left the planet. While Rey was fairly sure he had no hidden agendas that he was keeping with malicious intent, a real worry had entered her stomach that he may very well be dangerous to the mission and them in general. If he was so desperate to escape a life of servitude from the Hutts on Murkhana, it would make sense that his joy of being offworld could lead him to make some reckless mistakes and choices.

As she entered the cabin, she gestured to Ben and Ahsoka to join her around the central table that acted as the main reader for the ship's computer. Ben flicked it on and the cabin became aglow in a dim blue light.

"Did they have the readings?"

Eying the loading projection with a grim expression, Rey crossed her arms.

"They did. Let's see what we're going to be dealing with."

In a lot of ways, this was a sort of moment of truth. With such a stigma being raised against Jedi and Sith following the Old Republic and the Empire, it wasn't going to be much of a surprise to Rey that the Sith homeworld was being closely watched by a perpetual blockade type fleet, though Ahsoka had mentioned that it was unlikely that many of the Republic's resources were being dictated to such a project.

The table flashed to life and the planet of Korriban hovered before them in miniscule fashion. Rey had never seen it before and even just having it hover before her now filled her with a muted sense of anxiety. Ahsoka slowly circled the table, gazing at the hologram with an expression that matched how Rey felt.

"I only ever journeyed there once. If one ever needed proof of the dark side, a day on this planet's surface would be more than sufficient."

She looked to Ben.

"You mentioned you've visited here as well?"

When he didn't respond, Rey looked over to see him looking almost frightened as the blue glow reflected of his face, casting parts of it in deep shadow. She moved slowly over and took his wrist in her hand, squeezing it gently. He seemed to catch that a question had been posed to him and he cleared his throat uncomfortably.

"Once as well. With Snoke. It was… one of the more unpleasant places I've ever visited. Just being on the planet's surface I felt like there was a great oppressing Force bearing down on me. I had been excited, you see, to make a pilgrimage to Korriban. It was something I thought I might never be able to do, but Snoke surprised me one day and informed me we would be making the journey there. I was thrilled right up until I set foot on the planet. That was my earliest recollection that the dark side… it didn't care how much I supposedly offered myself to it, and utilized it for the pursuit of power, it just seemed to be condescending towards me even in nature."

Ahsoka watched him carefully, her voices spoken with a gentle kindness.

"The Force cannot manage that alone. Powerful spirits surely roam that world's temples and wastelands and made an attempt to strike at your core then. Siths from millennia past whose names we can only ever guess at… I am surprised you were able to make it off the planet without being totally overcome by their presence."

Ben reached across his body with his free arm and took Rey's hand that was clasped over his opposite wrist, squeezing it in return. He looked very uncomfortable.

"I'm sure I figured that after a time, but while I was on the planet… I've never felt anything so oppressive, even when confronting Sidious."

Looking to the faces of her two companions and seeing the worry written there, Rey took in upon herself to try and harbor some of the safe confidence Ahsoka had exhibited just minutes prior.

_We can't let ourselves be overtaken by fear. We're only guessing at what might come, and doing so now is dangerous to a fault; setting ourselves up for failure in a way._

"There's no point in thinking on it now. We have to be mindful of the present, not of the future. Too much can come of pondering it in excess, clouding our actions in the now."

The words she spoke were paraphrased from a lesson Leia had given her in the months before the events had transpired to send her to Endor. Ahsoka and Ben both looked almost surprised at her choice of words and she made a face.

"Well, _I _think it makes sense."

Ahsoka and Ben glanced at one another and after a moment, they both broke into a short chuckle. As Rey blinked at them, Ahsoka smiled warmly.

"You speak with a knowledge I wouldn't expect from someone your age. I have much to learn from you both."

For the briefest instant, Rey felt truly euphoric as she looked at the two, Ben holding her hand and Ahsoka smiling at the both of them. Then, as her eyes drifted down to the table before them, the reality of their situation settled back with a new development.

"That's odd. It says there are absolutely no readings of any active ships in atmosphere or in orbit around Korriban. How can that be?"

Ahsoka put her hands on the table and leaned forward, eyebrows furrowing sharply downward.

"That can't be accurate. I didn't believe that the Republic would be devoting many forces to keeping watch over the planet, but… for no ships at all? Korriban is a planet of significance both Jedi and Sith… I can't believe they wouldn't leave it under no surveillance at all."

Ben's voice was low in its suggestion. "We don't know for certain how much the New Republic actually cares about keeping watch over places of relevance to the Force. I heard the soldiers in the battalions speaking when they came and picked us up after Rey and I fought the Sith. Only one squad of soldiers is assigned to the Jedi Temple at a time. It is easy for them to get in touch with headquarters to request backup, but as we saw, if they are taken out quickly enough, that hardly matters. Maybe they ignore this planet for the most part like they ignore the Temple."

"We're really going to Korriban?"

Rey spun collectively with Ben and Ahsoka to look at Niroh who had just entered the cabin. At what were likely a series of intense expressions directed his way, he put up his hands.

"Sorry. Just asking."

He strode past the table and picked up his heavy blaster which rested next to his blade near one of the storage lockers. As he sat down a distance from them and began maintaining his weapon, Ben addressed him in as flat a tone as Rey knew he was trying to exhibit.

"What would you know of a planet like that? You said you had never left Murkhana in your life."

As he disassembled pieces of his firearm without barely looking at it, Niroh shrugged passively.

"Yeah, that's right. But that doesn't mean I was totally in the dark about other worlds, particularly ones that the Hutts might have had some interest in."

It was Ahsoka who chimed in then, eying Niroh with a reserved amount of suspicion herself. Rey knew that she had been the one who had easily spent the least time with him and was surely regarding him with a similar caution as Ben.

"What would the Hutts want with Korriban."

Niroh talked as he worked, his fingers flicking over the smaller pieces of his weapon as he examined and checked each one with a great deal of skill.

"Mind you, I never saw the shipments. But a few years back, the Hutts send out a convoy to Korriban. It might have slipped by everyone's radars, but what caught everyone by surprise was the amount of ships sent and how cagey the Hutts were being about it. This was a large scale operation for the plundering of another world, I think five freighters and about two dozen escort ships, it was a big deal. And even though the Hutts don't usually go blabbing about their plans to the commonfolk, the trend is usually that they mention it to some lead enforcer who gets drunk and relays it to some of his lackeys who blabs it to some other underlings who spills it in a bar, or something like that. Basically, when the Hutts have an operation going, word of it usually breaks after not too long and with an operation this _size _everyone was ready to hear pretty quick what the deal was. But word of it never broke out, no one ever came out of a bar letting everyone know what was going down."

Finished with reassembling his blaster, Niroh set it down by its holster and picked up his blade. Examining the battery or whatever power kit was attached near its hilt, he began to check over this weapon as well.

"The ships leave and even while everyone is buzzing with theories, no one knows for sure what the deal is. And after a week, longer than any plunder job that they ever put out, the ships come back. And while all the ships are accounted for, there are _way _less people coming off and bringing the loot down to the Hutts' vaults. After another week or so, I start to stick to this Rodian named Bajak. He always had a loud mouth in the past, but after he got picked for this job, he came back quieter than a security droid. I finally get him into a bar one night and get some drinks into him; slowly, he starts cracking and then out of nowhere, he practically breaks down."

With a sound like a speeder's engine being started, the hilt gave a sputtering roar and the blade glowed briefly for a moment before he powered it down.

"He says they were sent to Korriban to pillage some temples and find some valuable artifacts and materials that could potentially be pawned off to some Force obsessed species that really get into stuff like that. It's a Republic dictated law that Korriban is off limits like a few other planets that were particularly relevant to the Sith in particular. But the Hutts were able to manage to get a whole convoy onto the planet and make off with a whole bunch of goodies."

"The Hutts profited. While losing well over half of the people they sent to the planet to get what they wanted. So I can hazard a guess that the reason the Republic doesn't have that planet cordoned off is because it doesn't need to be. Whatever's on that planet takes care of visitors just fine."

He got to his feet and showed his sword.

"This is how I know Bajak was telling the truth. This blade is made out of phrik, one of the most powerful metals in the galaxy. I heat up the blade with this mini-furnace and it can cut through things as well as a lightsaber. And before a big chunk of this material came back from Korriban, I and many others were pretty sure phrik was just a myth."

Ben gave the unorthodox weapon a look.

"I'm sure it does fine where you're from. But lightsabers are a different story compared to what you're lugging around."

Niroh made an unoffended face and shrugged. Glancing down at his blade, he activated the engine attached to its hilt and it revved up, glowing with a gentle red around the dark grey of its blade. Then, suddenly, he thrust it at Ben's head with a speed that barely gave Rey time enough to scream.

Ben brought up his lightsaber in a flash and caught Niroh's blade near its hilt and caught it in place. For a moment, there was just the sound of crackling as the lightsaber and blade locked against one another, growling with a tight, electric snarl. Rey found that she had moved around into a readied stance, her own lightsaber in her hand; on the other side of Niroh, Ahsoka had a hand readied in what Rey recognized as a combat ready Jedi stance meant for those absent of a lightsaber.

For a moment, Niroh and Ben looked at each other across the haze that the phrick blade and the lightsaber made as they crossed. Then, Niroh cracked a smirk and pulled his blade back, deactivated it and placed it back next to his pistol and returned to looking at Ben, hands open and spread.

"I had a feeling. I saw a lightsaber hilt when you bent down to help that kid back in Murkhana City. I don't know practically anything about what you got up to with the First Order, but Supreme Leader? Ha, every leader of the galaxy since as far as I know was a someone in tuned with the Force. Sith or Jedi, don't matter to me anyway, but why else are we scratching this ship from the system and racing towards the Sith homeworld?"

He glanced at Rey with an apologetic look, but that smirk still ever present in his eye.

"Sorry for scaring you. I wouldn't have actually hit him if he wasn't what I expected him to be. I don't miss with that baby, and I wouldn't have wanted anyone to get hurt regardless."

He turned to look at Ben, eyes moving to Ahsoka occasionally as he spoke.

"Sorry to you too. I have a lousy trust problem ever since… well since I can remember. I didn't know what you guys were for sure, even with the HoloNet casts. Just had to check."

No one replied to him and he raised his eyebrows and patted his knees to break the silence.

"Well, I'll let you guys get back to it. We'll be reverting to realspace in a couple minutes, but I'll have HK set us in outside of orbit reach in case you guys aren't sure about going in immediately."

And he departed without a look back, looking both at ease and slightly regretful. Rey watched him go until well after he was out of sight and looked to Ahsoka who was doing the same. The Togruta looked at her with a cautious look.

"I can see why you were hesitant of him. He plays things a little too free and easy."

Rey bit her lower lip, "He was good to us in Murkhana. Too good, all things considered. Brought us the droid, and helped kill a good few people he probably worked with for years. But… there's something about him. Something Ben picked up on more than me."

But as she looked to him, she saw Ben had looked away from where Niroh had walked, the faintest smile playing at his mouth.

"It's going to be quite the task, keeping an eye on him."

''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

Banshor marched down the hallway to his chambers, lost in thought.

Trilla had given him a great deal to chew on and he wasn't sure exactly what to make of it all. Despite all of her denials, shouts and eventual tears, she had finally seemed to begin to at least seem like she was willing to accept the possibility that she could truly now be living in a galaxy forty-some years removed from the one she last remembered.

What surprised him more than anything about the whole situation was how much he truly didn't want to have to kill her. If his master ordered it, it would be something done without hesitation, but before she had awoken, the apprentice had truly never considered what might happen when and if she did break free from her bacta assisted slumber.

Banshor had a hand-picked few amongst Plagueis's fleet that he counted as those who would be his first choices for any specific situation that might arise and he was wondering if the reason he wanted her around was to potentially integrate her into that group, possibly as his own apprentice. Questioning his own desires was often a torturous task and one that often didn't grant answers, but he knew deep down he was hoping for a chance to keep her around. All that needed to be done was to approach his master about it.

That was another situation entirely.

His commlink buzzed distantly and he answered it absently. Commander Leesian's voice crackled in his ear.

"_Our Master is requesting that all members of his command assemble on the main bridge at once._"

This was enough to shake him free from his musings and he stopped walking.

"Why? That wasn't to take place until tonight."

"_Things change, my lord. I'm just passing along the message._"

Rubbing his tongue against his teeth, Banshor waited a beat before grunting, "Understood. I will be along shortly."

As he deactivated his commlink and was once again left alone, he was left wondering what could have caused this change in his master's thinking. Nothing about their earlier conversation and the revelations it had brought indicated that plans needed to be sped up. But as Leesian had said, things changed. His master's will was absolute.

Turning away from where he had been heading, Banshor found himself having to shake free from thoughts of Trilla yet again. There was one thing he wanted to do before answering his master's call and he couldn't be preoccupied while doing it. Any real lapse in his mental concentration could open his mind up for probing from a distance if his master so wished to try and spy in on his doings.

And hell would surely rain down on him if his master knew of this particular venture.

'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

The _Ghost _entered realspace to be granted a full view of Korriban, half of it cast in darkness, the other half lit by the planet's sun. Rey found herself unable to peel her eyes from it as she sat in the pilot's seat next to HK-47 who was acting copilot. In the spacious cockpit, Niroh, Ben and Ahsoka all stood, looking at the same planet with varying reactions.

"Our readings?"

HK checked the computer in an instant before repeating what Rey had knew he would say.

"Response: They are the same as they were when we were calculating them in hyperspace; no ships detected in any sector of Korriban's atmosphere."

Rey realized she had almost been dreading that the planet's atmosphere would be devoid of any other ship. This almost seemed to encourage the thought that this was too good to be true; making their way undetected to Korriban's surface was something she hadn't been expecting to manage.

"Query: Shall I power down the ship's main engines and attempt another deep scan?"

Rey turned in her chair to look at the beings behind her, mainly Ben and Ahsoka. Ben looked thoughtful and Ahsoka seemed still preoccupied about the situation and spoke first.

"It might be a good idea. Hyperspace might have toyed with the ship's computers or maybe caused the droid to not read it properly."

"Assertion: Considering my faculties process at a considerably higher rate than yours, I would reserve judgement were I in your place regarding data reading performance."

Ahsoka looked unsure of weather to be taken aback or amused by HK's snide remark; Rey cracked a smile before looking at Ben.

"She could be right… what do you think?"

He didn't reply immediately, but Rey knew it wasn't him ignoring her. In the Force, she could feel him extending, reaching as far as he was able to detect any kind of presence in the space near the planet, something she had done herself moments ago. But Rey felt her apprehension was likely getting the better of her and wasn't sure if it was wise to trust herself only.

After several long seconds, Ben seemed to return to the moment and glanced at her, lips drawn in a tight line.

"I… think we're safe. But it doesn't feel right, that being said."

There was another long pause as they all silently contemplated the wisest course of action. Then, a noisy blare from one of the systems just behind the main cockpit sounded and Niroh turned to regard it. He looked at it for a moment and when he didn't speak up, Rey voiced a question in a single word.

"Well?"

He glanced at her with raised eyebrows.

"Well I don't know how, captain. But somehow, someone's trying to hail us."

Looking thoroughly impressed and intrigued, he looked back at it.

"They want to talk to you."


	12. Chapter 12

As Rey worked her way to the main cabin of the _Ghost _in the hopes of taking this transmission quietly, she felt Ben brush against her consciousness and she granted him entrance. Having him there to silently watch and provide support from afar would make this a much easier task, mostly because the only thing they had on the incoming contact was that it was a Coruscant signature. Over then ship's intercom, HK's almost human tone reverberated off the walls.

"Statement: Our signal has been appropriately scrambled and any incoming communicators will not be able to trace us."

Rey took a long shaky inhale and realized there was every possibility that one of the Resistance members she knew might be on the other side of her accepting this communication. The idea of Poe or Finn's voices coming through, accusatory and betrayed was enough to cause her outstretched hand tremble and pause just before she reached the control panel.

_It's okay… this is what I've chosen and I have to stand by it._

But as she flicked the switch and the transmission became an active communication, it was not the voice of any of her old friends that greeted her, but rather the voice of one of her newer allies.

"Rey. I hope I'm finding you well?" Arkin's voice came across the hiss of the transmission, clear and calm. She forced down a humored smile as she felt Ben twitch uncomfortably in her mind. For her, hearing Arkin's voice was an refreshing as a glass of cold water in the heat of Jakku's summer. For Ben's sake, she attempted to keep any excitement or obvious relief from her own tone.

"We are. We've managed to just change the _Ghost's_ signature so it shouldn't be possible for us to be tailed."

"I'm glad to hear that. I had intended on keeping myself as distanced from your situation as possible, but it seems like everyone on Coruscant is under suspicion."

Something very much like guilt began to twist its way through Rey's veins. She realized this really wasn't something she had considered and the idea of her friends being interrogated and held under suspicion for her escapades with Ben pounded her gut. It took her a moment before she felt able to reply.

"Is… is anyone that I… "

As though he had read her mind, Arkin spoke over her, "None of the Resistance is under any scrutiny beyond simply being asked about regarding your motivations and emotions as far as I've been told. I do my best to stay on top of things, but that's all I have as far as they are concerned I'm afraid."

Pushing her thoughts of a jealous Ben aside, Rey leaned forward at though the computer she was speaking through in the cabin was Arkin himself.

"Are you okay? Are they coming after you?"

He chuckled and though Rey knew it was meant to put her at ease, she couldn't miss how tired he sounded.

"Don't you go worrying about me; I may not be devoid of suspicion, but neither is anybody else. Senator Vicly is even getting inquiry petitions after she spoke to you for just a moment while you were being treated after the night of the Temple attack. She's been very adamant as to the fact that whatever reasoning had led you to this conclusion was something that had been done with good intentions."

The idea of the Senator sticking her neck out for Rey after she had given no reason to stand up for her was enough to form a lump in Rey's throat.

"I… didn't mean for this to happen to anyone, to her, or you… "

Arkin's voice became rougher for a moment, "I don't want you thinking like that. I wouldn't have done what I did if I wasn't confident of your reasoning myself."

He sounded almost distant then as though he were speaking while deep in thought.

"I'm aware of the evil that has plagued Coruscant, and I hope for you and Ben to succeed in whatever it is that you believe will be enough to defeat it."

Ben nudged at Rey's mind and suggested a question and though Rey felt his distrust towards Arkin as the fuel for this query, it was a prudent question to ask nonetheless.

"Is there a particular reason you got in contact with us? I can't imagine you risked contacting us just to check in… "

The way she phrased it came off more demanding than she would have liked but Arkin voiced no offense; rather, he seemed to grow almost nervous.

"You escaping Coruscant with Ben has caused even more chaos than I could have expected. Alongside the monstrously large investigation that is being played out, ship's are departing the capital and jumping to as many possible sectors they can fathom that you might go to. I reached out to advise you against traveling to any worlds that hold strong connections to the Jedi."

"Senator Bevicard has strongly implied that he believes you might travel to the area around Yavin or some other system that has a lengthy past with the Jedi. Personally, I believe that he is trying to throw the scent off your trail since he is very much of the mind that what you have done will ultimately be for the greater good, so trusting of Jedi he has always been. But his nudging might lead this Republic ships to you and I wanted to pass that warning along."

Knowing the planet which orbit they hung just outside of, Rey gave a short laugh.

"I wouldn't worry about that, we're actually just now coming up on-"

As Ben shouted a warning in her head, Arkin's voice snapped across the communications like a vibro-whip.

"Don't."

Rey caught her voice in her throat as he continued.

"I don't want to know where you are or where you are going. Whatever your mission is, it is yours and Ben's alone. And telling anyone who doesn't need to know, like me, poses a risk."

He paused for a short while and when he spoke again, it was with almost a wistful tone.

"I just wanted to pass along the warning regarding Jedi worlds and that the Republic is quickly making its number one goal hunting you down."

It was all Rey could do to breath out the words. "Thank you."

Arkin offered back generic words of luck wishing and farewell before closing the communication and immediately, Ben stormed into the cabin. He looked behind him to see if anyone had followed him before whipping his head back to stare at her with furious eyes.

"What were you thinking?! Almost blabbing that information to him?!"

Affronted by his anger as well as where it was coming from, Rey's eyebrows tightened into a sharp look as she got to her feet and regarded him.

"In case you had forgotten, he was the one who was able to get us where we are in the first place. So forgive me for thinking that his choice and the risks he took wouldn't endear me to the idea that he wouldn't be very likely to betray us."

Looking away in frustration, Ben ran a set of fingers through his black hair.

"Even taking what he's done into consideration, we can't put our trust so blindly in anyone! I believe we can come to trust Ahsoka, the droid is a damn droid, and Niroh is only here _because _I don't trust him!"

Not relenting, Rey crossed her arms and looked at him with as passive aggressive an expression as she could manage. "In case you forgot this also, he stopped me from telling him. So even if you didn't trust him with that information, does his denying even being privy to it mean anything?"

He flicked his eyes to her and his emotions boiled out of him and it was impossible for Rey to discern them to be anything other than what they were. Not wanting to get into this, now or ever, she pushed past him to return to the cockpit, eager to move on to anywhere that wasn't the conversation they had been about to have.

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

The entrance the _Calamity's _main bridge hissed open to admit the apprentice and he looked around in momentary amusement at the sheer population the room held.

Normally, the bridge was occupied by only a couple dozen individuals, a few captains, perhaps and admiral or commander and the bridge crew themselves. Today, however, the bridge had been cleared of any low ranking members of the Sith fleet and instead, a vast manner of beings ranging in rank and species stood shoulder to shoulder at attention. Commanders, all three of the admirals, and anyone of true significance stood front facing towards the view port that observed open space.

As he paces slowly into the room, Banshor saw Commanders Ninra, Beuser and Leesian as well as General Aigarian and Nizhia who humorously wound up side by side. The three head admirals of the fleet Irin, Nhubarro and Maleena stood at the forefront of the rows of high ranking individuals, uniforms pressed and sharp. Banshor had little liking for any of the admirals; Irin was the closest to bearable as they came but that was only because Banshor saw so little of him, he was constantly away from the fleet on ventures that Plagueis seemed worthy of time and expense. Nhubarro was as by the book as they came, citing previous naval doctrines from many different eras as reasoning for many of his decisions and Maleena was nothing short of arrogant and selfish, her constant condescending expression absent as he walked around the front of the sixty or so beings. Such a look would not have done in the presence of their master.

The admirals were all brilliant in their own right as were the occupants of the room at that time, regardless of their position. This was why they were about to be privy to the information the master was about to provide. And even be allowed to hear his voice.

Everyone was arranged in four rows of well over a dozen across with the three admirals at the forefront and as Banshor stood center in front of them all, he turned to look at the lot of them. He had heard plenty of rumors of how certain individuals present didn't take kindly to the rank and power he held within the fleet, at such a young age and stature comparatively to some as well as his dress of black robes that clashed with the sharp and traditional uniforms they wore. But none would dare speak of this dissatisfaction to his face, nor in this moment did he imagine they were even thinking too much about it.

"Glad you could join us, my lord." Maleena spoke in a clipped tone as she stood straight at attention. Her words could have been taken in any number of ways, from challenging to mocking to accusatory and Banshor knew this. He could read her like a book and could sense her disdain for him a mile away. With the silence in the room, her words carried and the majority of the individuals in the room at least flicked their eyes towards the front of the bridge. Banshor saw Nizhia look apprehensively upwards with his large feminine eyes, he saw Aigarian look almost hungrily towards what could have been a confrontation and he watched Linra's lips tighten into a line.

There was a great number of things he could have said to rely, or to instigate, but he instead said the one thing that he knew would get the most under her skin.

Nothing.

Turning his back on the admirals and officers, he paced casually to the view port at the head of the bridge, allowing a soft smile to pass over his face and making sure Maleea could see it. He felt her disdain for him spike and that was almost enough to make him chuckle. Instead, he spoke as he faced away from them, strong and clear.

"For some of you, this will be your first time hearing our master speak. Your first time being allowed that grace."

Turning, he gazed out across the faces of numerous species and races, looking for the newer faces he knew were there.

"You will show reverence. You will show respect. I do not need to tell you these things, but I do so anyway because I'm the one who will deal with you if you fail in these respects."

The unease and apprehension of the room was nearly palpable even without his reaching into the Force to sense the fear and worry of many within the room. He honestly hoped that someone would not follow these simple instructions as a good example of a disrespectful officer was more than enough usually to inspire loyalty in the rest of them.

He felt a touch in the Force and he strode to stand just ahead and to the left of the admirals, turned slightly. Then, a great looming hologram appeared before them and Darth Plagueis's visage, a twenty foot tall Muun head stared down at them all. As every officer in the room dropped to a knee, Banshor tightened his waist into a deep bow. He knew his Master preferred that he remain standing and attentive while others were in their presence, to remind them of the power the Sith held over them.

"My children. It does me well to see you all before me."

The voice was a rumble that caused the paneling beneath the apprentice's feet to vibrate. As was customary, Banshor spoke for the good of them all.

"What is thy bidding, my master?"

"There are several things that must be addressed and for which I have called you all here. Firstly, it has no doubt come to the attention of you all that the ones who defeated our clone of Emperor Palpatine, his granddaughter Rey and Ben Solo have escaped Coruscant."

It was a sign of discipline among the throng of officers that not one whisper sounded at this.

"Though our primary plans remain the same, these two may prove troublesome should they be allowed free reign of the galaxy. To all of you, pass along to all those beneath you: any sign, any hint of these two through any channels or source is to be reported and investigated."

"Secondly, our use of the First Order has come to an end. Admiral Maleena, you are to take _Imperator_ class destroyers and eliminate the remainder of the First Order that fled Exegol."

Admiral Maleena looked for a moment like she might choke up at merely being recongnized.

"It will be done, my master."

Plagueis continued on. "I have determined our best course of action will be to accelerate our plans that were put forth at the beginning of the creation of our fleet."

To this, even Darth Banshor perked up, glancing slightly up to regard the image of his master. This had not been discussed between the two of them.

Admiral Irin cleared his throat harshly.

"Forgive my daring to address you, master… but are these the plans regarding the Core?"

"Correct, admiral. It is my determination that it is time to put this plan into motion."

Banshor managed, with difficulty, to not react. This had caught him just as off guard as the other occupants of the bridge and this announcement unlike the previous was enough to stir murmurs.

"I understand this might come as a surprise to you. But my pondering has led me to deem this our only possible path forward. Admiral Irin, have your navigators succeeded in routing the proper coordinates."

The admiral nodded, "They have, my master. But we will only have one chance."

"Then we will make it count."

The murmurs died away as the officers let thoughts of the impending plan overtake them and Banshor could sense the excitement that suddenly had overwhelmed any concern.

"There is a last matter that requires the attention of all. I require you to listen carefully."

At once, Banshor felt his mind overwhelmed and he became quite unable to move. A swarm of words and information and images flocked in his mind like a furious storm and in the instant it came, it was gone. Plagueis continued to speak and Banshor knew immediately what had happened. Something had needed to be known by him and him alone, something his master wanted him to be appraised of in a single instant. And so he was; the apprentice knew exactly what the purpose of this little speech would culminate into and it turned out he would get his wish after all.

He reached into the room and found the presence he was looking for. Silently and unknowably, he let tendrils of the Force ready themselves.

"You have all been chosen to be trusted. Candidates have come and gone, but you are the chosen few that will lead us to victory. Despite my power, my reach and my knowledge, I myself am limited. I require you all to perform your duties to the abilities that I know to be at the highest level of your fields."

What might have been praise echoed in Banshor's ears as hollow and he felt the gratification the crew felt disappear into nerves as his master's words began to tighten.

"This is what makes the disappointment I feel now that much more grave. There can be no order without loyalty. Without respect for the cause we pursue and the peace that will follow in its footsteps. There is a price that must be paid and you all pay it now; distancing yourselves from your homes, friends and family, giving up all in bringing this reality to the galaxy. And I do not take it for granted."

The massive shimmering brow furrowed.

"And neither should you."

Banshor felt a last nudge in the Force and without a word, he let his power flow freely. From the second to last row of officers, a single man was picked up as effortlessly as a marionette on strings. Shrieking, he was dragged through the air to hover in front of the shocked crowd. In what appeared a single motion, Banshor drew his lightsaber and cleaved in large arcs. Arms fell from the shoulders, legs at the waist and his lower jaw came last, tumbling to the floor to rest beside the four severed limbs. After a moment of silence, the stump of a man began to howl, flailing about on before the towering head of Darth Plagueis. Admirals, commanders, generals and officers stared in petrified silence as Banshor switched off his weapon and returned it to his side.

Plagueis's voice rumbled over the wailing of the being before him.

"I dislike a traitor. But I despise an incompetent one."

As two unfortunate officers came to drag the man's body away and with the bridge dismissed, Banshor remained standing stalwart at the side of his master's projection. Some risked a frightened glance his way as they departed the bridge in silence and Banshor relished Maleena resolutely refusing to even look his way. After a few moments, silence fell on the bridge as they were left alone. Banshor waited almost a minute before speaking up.

"He didn't do anything wrong."

"A good scapegoat keeps the lot of them in line. What we are about to do will require complete faith in our plan and our cause. Adding some fear to the mix to help… inspire them, is perfectly acceeptable."

Banshor smiled. As far as Sith lords went, his master could be both the most cruel and the most forgiving. It did the apprentice well to know that he was the one at Plagueis's side, being mostly free of the contempt that his master could dish out from time to time. That being said…

Turning slightly, Banshor looked out over the expanse of the star speckled infinity outside of the view port.

"I wouldn't dare speak of this in front of the men, and I don't presume to sound questioning of your choices… but I thought I was to lead the Core operation."

It became Plagueis's turn to pause as he fell briefly into thought.

"I have done a great deal of reaching into the Force and have found another task for you. Put together a collection of officers of your choosing and board the _Relentless_."

Curiosity piqued, Banshor tilted his head. He was certain he knew what his master was about to ask of him. Only one thing was more important than the plans for the Core.

"What heading, my master?"

Plagueis's voice was a harsh and unyielding growl.

"I sense a disturbance at our home, my disciple, we must accelerate those plans as well. I am sending you to Korriban."

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

The ground beneath Ben's feet was an unwelcoming as anything could be as he felt the pull of Korriban swell over him like a Kaminoan tidal wave. It was just as he remembered it, cracked and brown with spires and temples looming in the distance, beckoning with their unknown hands. When he had traveled here with Snoke it had seemed even more desolate, as though it had been rightfully abandoned by the order of things, never to see exposure and population like any of the Core worlds.

"Yikes. I can see why it's not exactly a tourist trap."

Niroh drew up alongside him, one hand reaching over his shoulder and gently, almost lovingly, caressing the handle of his phrik blade. Rey came up alongside Ben's other side and gave their companion a wayward look.

"Good thing we aren't tourists."

Giving her a smirk, Niroh hopped up a few jagged boulders and looked out over the cracked and inhospitable landscape.

"So where to?"

Ahsoka spoke the answer that had been on Ben's tongue as she joined him and Rey.

"Wherever the Force leads us."

Making a clicking sound with his mouth, Niroh scratched the back of his head. "I was worried you might say something like that."

From behind them, came the shuffle of robotic feet. "Observation: Just down this plateau and beneath us lays a series of tunnels as well as the opening of what seems to be a cave. If we're exploring, that would be as good a place as any to start."

Ben looked at Rey who looked at Ahsoka who nodded gently. Wordlessly the five began to trek their way across Korriban's surface. It took them minutes to make it from here they had landed the Ghost to start climbing down a cliffside.

The group drifted as they walk, not to any great degree but enough that Ben could talk to Rey without being overheard.

"I'm sorry about earlier."

She didn't look over at him but her voice was softer than he expected.

"You were right to be upset. I just… it's still hard to get used to. You wouldn't know it, but when you and the First Order were hunting us, this is what it felt like."

Taking a long swallow, she shook her head.

"But I guess just even that short time on Coruscant… oh, damn it all, Ben, if you had been a free man everything else felt so relieving. People were happy to see us, to thank us and congratulate us. We were going to be able to pass the burden along to the Senate and other worlds, maybe get a chance to relax."

Ben remembered their benefactor's suggestion just before they had left.

"Like Arkin mentioned we could do?"

Rey jammed her eyelids shut.

"I still want to. So badly, Ben. Just go somewhere where it can just be me and you."

To this, there was no real right answer or answer Ben could give to appease her. Not one that he could think of anyway. He settled for taking her hand and gripping it tightly, a motion that was returned as she leaned into him briefly, resting her head against his arm as they walked. As they worked their way down to the bottom of the plateau, Rey gave a sudden harsh shiver.

"This place… you were right. It's like the whole planet is _letting_ us walk on it, waiting for us to be at our most vulnerable."

Ben sent a look at Ahsoka who was about ten yards to their right. She looked ever stalwart, but her eyes glowed with the same caution and discomfort that he felt.

"This place doesn't feel like it exudes the Force… more like it's consuming it."

Just as HK had said, a cave opened up beneath them and they worked their way around to stand in front of it. It yawned wide and foreboding just as the Jedi Temple had, practically a ghost in its own right. As they stared into it, Ahsoka turned to the droid.

"HK, can your sensors tell us anything about how far down this might go?"

"Response: Unlike the majority of tunnels on this planet, this appears to be a single cave that only stretches in about a kilometer."

"Ben, look at this."

At Rey's words, Ben saw that she had walked several meters to stand under the shadow of the massive entrance. He walked up and saw that she was looking at intricate carvings that spread over the cave walls. Ahsoka spoke in a soft whisper.

"Centuries… _millenia_ of Sith history here, recorded for posterity… unbelievable."

They began to spread out and look at what they could see that didn't disappear into the blackness of the cave. Ben looked at figures dressed in ornate garments and with lightsabers that looked even stranger. He saw events that he didn't understand that may very well have shaped the very future of the galaxy when they happened. He knew the tales of ancient Sith that had come so many years before but this was unlike anything he could wrap his head around. Without words and any sort of understandable format, they were just as mysterious as anything could be. Ben may very well have stood their for hours, gawking and trying to decipher the pictures that were before him if Niroh hadn't picked up with a shout.

"Hey!"

Ben walked over with the others to see Niroh staring in disbelief at the wall. On it was the carving of a massive woman with an unnatural face unlike that of any species Ben had ever seen. A collection of Sith stood around her perhaps worshipping or fighting.

Niroh pointed aggressively at it. "That's Abeloth. The story I told you about."

"How do you know?" Ben asked pointedly.

"I recognize the pictures, the way it looks. One of the guys who came back from this place… he was carving pictures like this."

Rey stared at him. "Why would he do that?"

Niroh seemed almost mesmerized, a complete change from the smartass that he had seemed before. He reached up with a hand and brushed the image, almost seeming to shudder.

"I don't know…"

Ben looked at the enormous mouth of the giant woman and felt his skin crawl. "I heard Stories about Abeloth, but I never imagined that she was an actual piece of Sith mythology."

As though he had been suddenly woken from a fitful sleep, Niroh straightened, the dazed look in his eyes now completely absent.

"I would imagine that is indeed all it is, just a myth."

Rey shook her head and stepped closer, eyes craning for any detail she might have missed.

"That doesn't make any sense. Why would a religion dedicated to worshipping a child of this… thing exist _today_ on a planet as far removed from Sith teachings as anything could be?"

A series of whistles and beeps sounded behind them and Ben, Rey and Ahsoka turned to see HK-47 not moving. After a moment he spoke up and the words sent a shudder through Ben's heart.

"Statement: It may interest you to know that while we were down here, a _Resurgent_ class star destroyer has just entered Korriban's atmosphere."


	13. Chapter 13

_**AN: Just wanted to say I hope you're all staying safe in this more than crazy time. It's been hectic for me, but I finally have been able to sit down and just take some time to myself and do some writing and I am shocked at how much of a welcome relief it is from the insanity of the real world. Maybe that's a bit of an irresponsible way to go about looking for an escape, but I hope that this can provide you even a quick respite from the nonstop worry and fear-mongering that's taking place. **_

_**Please stay safe!**_

'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

"I really wish Aigarian were here."

Commander Linra flicked her gaze from the massive viewport ahead of them on the bridge of the _Relentless_ to give Nizhia a look of furrowed brow.

"You hate him."

Sitting on one of the main security consoles, Nizhia flicked his black hair out of his face and sighed. "Yeah, but I'd rather him go down there than any one of us, leading some ground team of that repulsive species of his."

From his place at the front of the bridge, skeleton crew working at their stations feverishly below him, Commander Leesian turned to regard the two officers on deck. His Kaleesh features didn't always allow for an obvious showing of his emotion, but his tone made up for that as it drenched the bridge in disapproval.

"Captain, need I remind you the orders in place for tolerance amongst this fleet? Whatever quarrel exists between you and the good general ought to be put aside; bickering with anyone promotes distraction and a lapse in efficiency."

Rolling his large feminine eyes, Nizhia leaned back and gazed at the ceiling.

"You sound like the admirals."

Stalking a few slow paces towards the flippant pilot, Leesian's voice adopted a more menacing tone.

"As long as you are aboard this vessel, you would do well to treat me as one. I do not take kindly to interlopers such as yourself."

Hopping down from his perch, Nizhia marched up to the Kaleesh. "And I don't take kindly to anyone pretending to be in charge when they're not! You might be the highest ranking officer on this ship, but I don't think I have to remind you that Lord Banshor is the only one that we _all _answer to!"

Linra, sensing an obvious conflict about to spew difficulty all over their mission, spoke up before Leesian could fire off a retort of his own.

"And I'm sure he would be thrilled to see how his officers are already performing before we've even begun our mission."

As Leesian and Nizhia rounded on her just as quickly as they had on one another, the doors to the bridge hissed open and the very person that had become the topic of conversation stepped on deck. All three officers snapped to attention and the crew members who had been operating as piloting, navigational and battery personnel looked quickly away from the drama that had been slowly breaking out on board the _Relentless_.

Darth Banshor paced slowly and deliberately to the head of the bridge and gazed out at the planet of Korriban that now hovered in the black of space, their mission and their destination. He supposed a part of him would always feel rather odd addressing beings older and younger than him with a much greater deal of military experience across the board as his subordinates, but there was a fun bit of power that came with the tremendous amount of respect they afforded him.

"Unfortunately Captain, General Aigarian has joined the small fleet of Admiral Maleena's to work on extinguishing any remnants of the First Order. She felt there may be a pressing need for ground troops, and despite any feelings you or I may have towards him, he is certainly capable in that regard."

Without turning to look at any of them, he kept his eyes tightly locked on the planet before them.

"The commander is right. Cohesion is paramount in our endeavors as we move forward. There is a great deal of talent and personality amongst the ranking officers in this fleet and that is no doubt a cause for butting heads here and there."

He rotated then on his heel to regard the three beings he had chosen specifically for this assignment. All three had dropped any sense of hostility and were regarding him with nothing short of unabated loyalty. He relished the feeling; any of these three would order their own executions if he ordered it and it was precisely due to that respect they held for him they had been selected. All three had worked under him in the past and all three had come to acknowledge that his age was a moot point against his tact and power.

Banshor, however, unlike his master, couldn't have been happier to feel the seeds of animosity amongst them. His own frustration with Aigarian was something that, however he might act or appear to feel, was just another source of fuel for his focus in the dark side. He knew that such feelings inspired brashness and recklessness, but if those were checked, the ambition that rode out would be more than worth the risk. He could sow these beings as better versions of themselves, even if the only thing that drove them to be better was their desire to outperform others.

"Commander Linra, our scans?"

But now was the time to focus. Why his master had directed him so swiftly, so suddenly to Korriban after the both of them had concluded that patience was key was more than intriguing to him.

She stepped forward, looking almost out of breath.

"We have detected no ships in Korriban's orbit, but our mapping scanners detected a modified VCX-100 freighter powered down on the northeastern hemisphere of the planet."

Banshor's heart skipped a beat and he had to catch himself from breaking into a ravenous grin.

_I must be dreaming. It couldn't be this easy._

"My lord? Are you well?"

He must have reacted in some way however, as all three of his officers looked at him worriedly, Nizhia speaking up and stepping towards him. Banshor took a long inhale through his nose and allowed a small smile to play at his mouth.

"Quite. Captain, take your squadron and position yourselves appropriately around the planet at the proper axis points. If anything comes within a click of the planet, I want to know about it."

Nizhia nodded in affirmation and the apprentice turned his gaze to Leesian.

"Commander, nothing gets off that planet without my go ahead. No matter the ship or the signature, without my go ahead, any ship attempting to break atmosphere I want blasted to dust."

Another nod of confirmation and he finished his briefing by jerking his head towards Linra.

"As for you commander, you and your troops will accompany me to the surface. We have some tourists to catch."

''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

Rey found it hard not to feel the same controlled panic that she heard in Ben's tone as he paced beneath the giant cavern they stood in.

"How could we let this happen?! We should have sensed… something!"

Ahsoka's voice was a calming interlude to the worry that had settled over the group. "We can't pretend that the dark side of the Force hasn't clouded so much of what we already thought we knew. And we can't waste time now dwelling on it."

Niroh had shaken himself free of whatever stupor had overcome him at the sight of the etchings on the wall.

"She's right, a star destroyer doesn't come to one of the most deserted planets in the galaxy on a whim, especially not under these circumstances. Someone knew we would be here."

Ben looked upwards at the stars they couldn't see and the star destroyer that was surely looming just outside the atmosphere of Korriban. When he spoke again, his tone was much more controlled, which was something that was able to provide with Rey with a great deal of momentary peace herself.

"Why a star destroyer? The First Order is finished, there can't be anything left for them to be hunting, they have no leadership, no direction, any survivors should have scattered after Exegol."

A thought occurred to Rey and she posed it, "Unless Palpatine's true headquarters for all his dark dealings was actually here and not Exegol."

Ben and Ahsoka turned to look at her and as the idea began to make more and more sense in her head, she rattled on.

"Think about it! Exegol is nothing but an ocean world of temples praising Sith teachings. Why would the Emperor have used it as anything other than a strategic position with it being unknown? Korriban hides so many more secrets, so much more than we can even guess at and it would be a perfect example of hiding in plain sight!"

The idea settled over them and as each member of the small group pondered it, HK spoke up.

"Suggestion: It may be a more appropriate idea to discuss this matter at a time when we are not being actively sought for: several ships have entered Korriban's atmosphere, likely detached from the star destroyer above."

Ben turned to the droid, militaristic mind surely working overtime.

"How many ships? What kind? Where are they headed?"

There was a second of a pause as the information was collected.

"Response: Eighteen unknown TIE class fighters have headed out in various directions and out of my scanner's range."

Ahsoka muttered quietly, "Probably sweeping the rest of the planet."

HK continued on in his answer. "One modified Lambda class shuttle with an escort of two TIE interceptors is moving to a predicted landing zone of very near the _Ghost_. Those are all the vessels I was able to detect, others may be cloaking."

Another pause fell over the group before Niroh spoke up, voice distant with regret.

"Well, I suppose there's no point even considering trying to sneak back to the ship. Even if they don't destroy it, and even if we can board it and take off, that star destroyer will fry us the minute we're off the ground."

More silence and Rey turned to look at Ben, and with surprise, found that he was smiling.

"Ben? What is it?"

He didn't speak up immediately, but when he did, it was with an almost tangible form of excitement.

"I'm thinking that if you're right… this could be a huge opportunity."

Rey could only blink at him, but Ahsoka was nodding with understanding. "He's right. Whoever that star destroyer belongs to, they don't know who we are or why we're on the planet. They'll scout out the _Ghost _and likely set guards around it and then go about their business. If they are First Order… "

"… then we can follow them and find out why they're on Korriban." Rey finished the thought as it clicked with her.

Ben shrugged, "Better we be on their tail then us on ours. Whether they be First Order or compatriots to that Sith we fought on Coruscant, knowing why they're here could be the very reason the Force pulled us here in the first place."

Ahsoka offered a small smile. "That's as good a reason as any."

Ben glanced at Niroh and when the latter didn't raise any objections, he nodded.

"Alright then. HK, keep us as informed as you can relaying information from the _Ghost's _scanner. Whatever the people in the shuttle are after, we're going to know about it."

''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

As he stepped foot off the ramp of the shuttle that had taken himself and Commander Linra planetside, Darth Banshor reached a hand up to brush against the mask that he had donned on the journey to the surface of Korriban. He couldn't have cared less that his subordinates had a true face to his identity, but for those on the planet, he would rather not share such pertinent information at the time. Robes billowing behind him, he marched up to the edge of the plateau the shuttle rested on and looked to the freighter a few hundred yards away that currently had Sith troops swarming in and around it. A chirp in her earpiece caused Linra to turn away briefly to receive the information before she turned back to the apprentice.

"No one is aboard the ship, but its systems are still being accessed remotely and the signal cannot be traced unless we call up for a proper tech squad to come down here and hack into the more delicate parts of the ship's computer."

Banshor waved a hand dismissively.

"Disable them altogether. Keep your mind on our mission, commander, we only deal with these other visitors if necessary."

As she nodded briskly at him, Banshor had to remind himself that the order was directed more at himself than her. If it were up to him, he would call for a planetwide sweep for who he knew was on Korriban and confront them before attempting to secure what his master had sent him here for. But he was not calling the shots, and his master's orders were absolute.

Clenching his teeth behind his mask, he nodded towards the _Ghost._

"Set up a small patrol around the ship and have the rest of your troops spread out in a forward relay position. Keep your channels open at all times. I will go and procure our master's prize."

He gestured towards her earpiece pointedly.

"Don't forget, if I send along that particular signal, you pass it on immediately and give her by location. I'm not wagering I'll need to but bear this in mind. Constantly."

With that having been said, he leapt from the plateau and made his way down to the more level parts of Korriban's ground that led towards the mountains and temples that interlocked in their design, natural and determined. Banshor had a decent enough idea where what he was looking for was hidden, but the information from the Holocron that he had all but completely committed to memory flickered in his mind's eye as the Force did the rest. Its touch guided and prodded him towards a particularly monstrous mountain that, at first glance, was just that. But as he neared it, carvings and etchings became prominent and he walked for minutes around its mass until a black gaping cavern of an entrance bared itself to him.

Not pausing, he descended into the temple that had once been likely flourishing with Sith students and acolytes thousands of years removed from the reality of the time Banshor occupied, never guessing their number would be permanently thinned to just two. He ignited his lightsaber and allowed the Force to carry to above his head as he walked, hovering just above him as a crimson illuminator to the archaic halls and rooms which he passed through.

The dark side of the Force continued to aid him and he descended deeper into what was surely a labyrinth of monumental proportions to anyone not under the same guidance that he was receiving. But he had a purpose, a reason to his visit and it would not lead him astray.

After passing through enough space that made the grand Jedi Temple seem paltry by comparison, he came to what he felt was a crucial junction in his journey and he looked at the dead end he had seemingly just stopped before. His lightsaber hovered down to float above him, lighting the etchings on the wall in a fiery glow.

Before him were the pictures of a story, a legend that had been passed down through Sith lore, the same way the prophecy of the Chosen One had been passed down through the records of the Jedi. Banshor was familiar himself with the story as it had been something fascinating to him in his time as a learner under Plagueis. The dealings of the horrible entity known as Abeloth, a being composed almost purely of the Force on her own, whose ability with it could have put any number of Sith or Jedi combined to shame. How only through her own hubris had the Sith and Jedi finally been able to defeat her.

And seal her away.

Drawing back a hand, Banshor paused a moment as he felt power coursing through him. Slowly, he let it flow back out of him into the Force itself. Ever since he had departed Commander Linra's company, something had been wearing at his mind, something ever present and boring at his conscious. He had paid it little mind in light of his mission, but the consistency with which it had stayed with him was enough to now acknowledge it properly.

Banshor had hunted beings enough times to know how someone who was being perpetually shadowed felt.

He swallowed briefly and spoke, the sudden sound echoing encompassingly around him.

"I think this little game ought to come to an end."

The swelling presence of Ben Solo followed the response as the young man in question leapt down to stand before him from where he had been hiding in the shadows.

"I couldn't agree more."

On either side of him, Rey Palpatine and Ahsoka Tano touched down from their own respective places of concealment. Banshor found himself politely surprised; he had been aware that he was being followed, but by all three of them, he never would have guessed at the weight of the presence in the Force. He glanced at the Togruta imperceptibly behind his mask. It was likely she had been utilizing some old Jedi tricks to make their passage less known.

Ben pulled free the lightsaber of Anakin Skywalker and activated it. The three of them became drenched in a blue sheen that cast away the red of Banshor's blade. He directed the sapphire bar of energy towards the apprentice, and his voice spoke with all the authority he had wielded as Supreme Leader of the First Order.

"What you stared at the Temple ends now. Whoever you are, whatever your dealings, the galaxy has no place for any Sith. Not anymore."

Banshor cocked his head.

"And it does for Jedi?"

He paced slowly to the right and judged the size of the space they were in as he distracted them with wordplay. The room was large, but it would offer difficulty in the way of movement if all three of them were to come at him at once. His Ataru style would find difficulty finding a niche in such a space and he would rather not have to resort to Vaapad unless he had to.

"You truly think it the higher ground to stand there and pass your judgement when we live in a galaxy that stood free of the stain of Sith and Jedi conflict for more than thirty years?"

Pausing in mock realization, Banshor raised a finger in jest.

"Oh wait, that went horribly as well. Bureaucrats and money took over then and in all those decades of bickering, the Centrists and the Populists, two sides of the same dirty coin. They let the our First Order rise, no, _flourish_, as they struggled for power and their own outdated sets of ideals."

He allowed himself to speak the truth for a moment then, as something very akin to pride came over him.

"When all is said and done, the galaxy will be thankful to the SIth for introducing proper order and control."

With an emerald flash, Rey's lightsaber flared into existence as well and she drew it up parallel to her body in a readied Djem So defensive stance as she hurled words at him in response.

"Like the Emperor did?! Conducting order as tyranny?!"

Though they couldn't see it, the apprentice sneered through his reply. "Hardly. Darth Sidious was a pawn of his own ambition, blind to the emotion of those closest to him. He lost in the end, not because he was weak, not in his own power, but in his own vision. I… will not make the same mistake."

Banshor watched as Ben lowered his blade into a readied stance, one of Sith origin. Knowingly or not, he and Rey were prepared to fight side by side, and do so with different and complimentary styles.

"That's why you came to Korriban is it? After you invaded the Jedi Temple, you think there's something here that will help you claim the universe as your own?"

All at once, Banshor's mood swing in a different direction as he realized that none of them truly had any idea why he was actually there. His voice rumbled through the room with an agonized growl.

"You have no idea the importance of my mission now. This has nothing to do with a conflict between you and I, or the Sith and the lowly Senate."

Rey jerked her chin in his direction, eyes flickering with the forest green of her blade.

"Oh? And what is its relevance then?"

Barely able to keep a laugh in, Banshor shook his head at her.

"You really think I would—"

He cut off suddenly as Rey's eyes suddenly flared with sudden ferocity. Wincing, he stepped back and his lightsaber jerked in the air above his head momentarily as something akin to an ice cold hook slashed at his mind. It happened in an instant but when it was over, he knew something very unknown to him had been done. Rey was breathing deeply as though she had just run a lap around the mountain they were encased in and she spoke through shallow breaths.

"He's here… for coordinates. The story Niroh told us about Abeloth… her location is here. In this temple."

Ben Solo turned to look at her with eyes a gaze that reeked of affection and admiration.

"Nice one."

She looked back and matched his expression.

"Thanks."

Banshor was reeling mentally. Just like that, she had pierced his mental shields and scooped out a piece of information that was so destructively essential, he was now having to reformat his entire plan. Because what she said was the truth. He was here for the location of Abeloth.

"Bah!"

With an open-palmed thrust of his hand, the walls of the room blew backwards to give way to the massive cavern they were placed in, freeing up a great deal more room. Ben, Rey and Ahsoka caught themselves at differing points in his Force push and regained their balance and composure quickly. Banshor was finding it difficult to do the same.

"I'm not sure where you learned that, granddaughter of Palpatine, but you won't live long enough to use it."

He brought a hand to his wrist to trigger the signal he hadn't believed he would have to send. Once again readied for a fight, Ben took a step forward.

"I'd love to see you try and… "

A hand pushed itself across his chest.

"Wait."

Banshor looked along with Rey and Ben as Ahsoka drew herself up alongside them and took a step in his direction. Slowly, she raised her hand and the apprentice felt the sting of her power just before it rocketed past him and blasted the etching covered wall behind him to pieces. There was a howl of air escaping the space as the secret passage beyond was revealed, dark and foreboding. He looked back as she spoke quietly.

"Go and get the information he's after. Destroy it once you find it and have it in your heads. We can't allow him to have it, no matter his purpose."

Her eyes never left Banshor as she gestured at the tunnel she had just laid out behind him.

"I will hold him here."

Rey's eyes went from determined to fearful as she leaned towards the former Jedi.

"Ahsoka, he's… he's a Sith! And not one like any of us have fought!"

The Togruta smiled.

"I know enough from what you've told me to hold him off until you secure the coordinates or whatever is down there."

She looked to the Ben and Rey with a humorous expression.

"Just don't take too long."

There was a pause as the pair of them were likely ravaged with the possibility of letting Ahsoka tackle the apprentice on her own and they exchanged pained looks before finally looking back forward with fresh determination.

"Alright," said Ben as he deactivated his lightsaber.

"We'll take care of him when we get back," Rey promised as she did the same.

As one, they shot past Banshor and into the dark beyond. He considered briefly trying to impede them going forward, but with Ahsoka to his back, there was no telling what risk he would have been taking. He had regained a handle on the situation mentally and it wasn't yet time to start taking unnecessary risks. Rey's unexpected mental assault had only told them what he was after, not where it was. He would handle Ahsoka and then the pair of them.

His lightsaber floated back down to be grasped in his hand and he directed it at her in an intentionally lazy Makashi salute.

"You won't be the first Jedi I've killed."

She surprised him then by laughing, a strangely distressing sound.

"Don't talk yourself up too badly. I was lying to the both of them when I asked them not to take too long."

From her sleeves came two identical lightsabers of pearly luminescence that flashed oppressively towards him. In her eyes, he saw something other than the playfulness she was exerting.

It was something more like malice.

"When I'm done with you, there won't be anything left of you for them to take care of," Ahsoka said and the Sith lunged.

''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

The moment she crossed blades with him, Ahsoka knew the fight was a bluff. Everything she was putting forward was a bluff, a hope that Ben and Rey could be successful. It had all happened so fast that she had barely known to make the decision consciously, but it was all she could do to get them all the time she could.

Her words before they either of them had even made a swing, buying them a little more time. A shout in the Force that carried her away from him and forced him to make up the ground between, buying them a little more time. Everything she could do was to keep him from them.

Because Ahsoka knew that she couldn't defeat him, not on her own.

Aboard the _Ghost_, they had spent a great deal of time discussing this very individual, how he acted and fought, what sort of strength he wielded, and Ahsoka had spent most of her time alone reaching into the Force for some answer as to who this might be, and how deep the roots of his power really were. She had wanted to know all she did so that when she faced him, there would be something of an advantage in knowledge. But there had never been any thought that this encounter would happen so soon.

The Sith was a blast furnace in the Force, spewing black invisible power every which way as he flashed about her. Initially, he had approached the battle hesitantly, likely in response to her confident boasting just before their lightsabers had connected. But now, he was moving with more confidence and Ahsoka could tell he was doing just as much probing of her as she was of him. And while her fighting style had altered so heavily in her old age, forcing her to play much more on the defensive, this allowed much more of her energy to be devoted to this mental game.

He was young, she could sense that, but it wasn't his age that told her this. It was as though the Force wasn't recognizing him as anything short of a newborn in its presence, despite the raw power he wielded. There was something rather like restraint in his actions, as though every move he made was being judged by something or someone Ahsoka couldn't see. This didn't keep him from pulling his punches, however, quite the opposite. Every consecutive blow she deflected felt like she had just tried to stop an ion cannon blast.

Ahoksa decided that perhaps she could make some ground up by using a common dark side user trait against them and continue the verbal game as their sparring tired her further.

"Someone as young as you, a Sith? I highly doubt that."

Based on his aggressive increase in output of his strikes, and the way he seemed to bite into his words behind his mask, she could tell that not only was she capable of riling him, he didn't sense her growing tiredness. His mind was so solely focused on defeating her and catching up to Ben and Rey that he wasn't doing much more than prodding her consciousness for weaknesses in her style, rather than her mentality itself.

"There's much I could tell you that you might 'highly doubt.' A new generation, but still the same arrogance; you Jedi will never change."

Catching a downward strike of his scarlet blade, Ahoksa pushed it down and whipped a strike towards his head that he was forced to sidestep and backflip away as she swung down in a powerful overhead with her second blade.

"I am no Jedi. I abandoned that practice years ago. But that doesn't mean the disdain I hold for them is anything close to what I feel towards pretenders like you."

With a shuddering growl, a burning mass of blue electricity wrapped its way around his free hand and forearm, crackling with the same spite that surely flowed through him.

"There is no pretend!" He shouted as he flung the Force lightning at her with the writhing power of a solar storm. Ahsoka knew that she wouldn't be able to move away in time to avoid the blast, nor would she be able to absorb it with the waning strength she had. Had she known such a fight was to come, she would have spent the trip to Korriban in proper meditation, gathering the Force to her in such a way that it would not be so distant to her now.

But as the raging blue lanced towards her hungrily, she knew that there was still more tricks up her sleeve to keep this dark side user on his toes.

Just before the lightning would have wrapped itself around her and treated her to what surely would have been a very painful defeat, she reached into the Force and found the center of the lightning's power. Expectedly, it was at the core of the Sith's being, his determination against and anger towards her. Through those venomous feelings, she followed the lightning's path to its intended target: her.

Simply, easily, in a trick that would only work once, she changed the lightning's intent.

Swirling up in a chaotic arc, the blue forks of energy raced up in a tight curve away from Ahsoka and slammed into the area around the Sith, out of control and still ravenous. Ahsoka felt his pain and shock as the power he had generated himself was directed back towards him and stunned him with its painful energy. Taking advantage of his momentary paralysis, she jumped and swung her blades in a tight cross towards his chest. Her barely was able to catch them on his own blade, but before their weapons had even met, she had drawn up a fist in the Force that slammed into him just as he prevented her from him running him through. The lightsabers didn't meet their mark but with a roar, the Force flung his body into the rubble that she had cleared to make way for Ben and Rey and he crashed mightily to the floor.

"You're powerful. But you're as much a danger to yourself as you are to anyone else."

Letting the Force carry her gently back to the floor as gently as a leaf, Ahsoka adopted a defensive stance once more as she finished her thought.

"It's no wonder you came down here alone."

From the floor, the black clad figure pushed himself to his hands and knees. His body heaved gently and Ahsoka furrowed her brow before realizing he was laughing quietly. Reaching into the Force, she sensed a great deal of emotion and a billowing spear of hate rushed up to the forefront of them all. Shaking her head, she looked at him sadly.

"Your hate cannot defeat me. It blinds you and shields you from seeing a true path to victory. It will consume you as it offers power that only stands as a distraction from the narrowness of the path you've chosen."

Still, he seemed to chuckle as he rose steadily to his feet, clearly no more the worse for wear. Readying herself, Ahsoka prepared to meet his next onslaught. But it didn't come by way of his blade, but rather by words of his own, words that caught her much more off guard than any attack would have.

"Ahsoka Tano… you think the hate you feel is mine?"

There was only the briefest instance for the Force to grant her a warning and she managed to jump to the side just in time to avoid a spinning whirlwind of red that had come from behind her. Letting the Force carry her up and back to the ground, Ahsoka looked to see a second figure, clad similarly in black and wielding a double bladed lightsaber and with a pang, she realized she recognized its design.

Straightening, the Sith deactivated his own blade and nodded to the young woman who stood ahead of him now.

"Trilla, I leave the Jedi to you. She is powerful, I won't be surprised if you die."

At his brutally honest remark, Trilla only eyed Ahsoka with fiercely determined eyes as she replied.

"I will prove to you my skill and knowledge of the Force."

Rotating his shoulder, he turned away from both of them and made his way to the tunnel entrance.

"We shall see. Prove me wrong, and I will grant you an audience with the master."

And he dove into the blackness after Ben and Rey. Feeling a pang of fear, Ahsoka made to rush after him, but the young woman known as Trilla stepped into her path, a cold smile on her face. Her Inquisitor lightsaber came up in a readied stance that Ahoksa didn't recognize.

"I wouldn't worry about him. I promise I'll prove quite the handful myself."

'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

As they reached a room that had tablets and tables with etchings and carvings of all sorts littering them as well as the walls that surrounded them, Rey realized she hadn't a clue what exactly they were looking for. She spun in a half panic to Ben who was also gazing around frantically in the room that was bathed in the glow of their green and blue weapons. There were likely so many secrets to the ways of the ancient Sith, Rey didn't doubt that in more amenable times, there was a plethora of knowledge that was waiting to be tapped into, but at the moment, her worry was the only thing that was urging her onward. Her shock at seeing the Sith again compounded with the fear for his power were driving her thoughts mad.

"What are we trying to find?! Coordinates?! A map?!"

"I don't know, I don't know… "

Spinning to look back at the tunnel they had traveled down, Rey practically started towards it instinctively.

"We shouldn't have left her to fight him! We know he's powerful, we should—"

Ben was at her side in an instant and as he took her shoulders, Rey looked into his eyes. There was no more panic there than she had ever seen on his face, and she sensed the control he was taking of the situation.

"She knows what she's doing. We have to trust in the decision she made."

Unable to believe that, Rey turned her head desperately back the way the way they had come before Ben's hand took her chin and turned her towards him. Not roughly, but firmly, he held her there.

"Just as we need to trust in the Force and each other to carry out this task."

And he leaned in and kissed her and just as it always had since the first times their lips had met that day, for a moment, Rey's world was filled with calm and bliss. Everything that was frightening her and keeping her thoughts from flowing freely with the Force dissipated and a peace broke over her mind like a wave. As he broke apart from her, he offered her a smile in the glow of his blue blade and she retuned it as he looked back to the room they were in. He spoke to her as they began to search, both of them reaching into the Force for any kind of guidance it could provide.

"When you penetrated his mind, just for that moment, did you sense anything else, any clue of what he was here for?"

Gritting her teeth, Rey tried hard to think to anything else that had been presented to her in that split instant, but nothing seemed to come.

"I remembered the name, Abeloth. He… and whoever he's with think that she is real, more than real. They want to find her, they… the Holocron he stole from the Temple, it led him here, I don't think it's a map, I think its more like… I don't know, it seemed like—"

"A clue?"

Rey nearly slipped as she turned around to face the Sith, his smooth, modulated voice shaking her to her core. Ben moved much more accordingly, slowly taking a step to stand between the both of them. Rey wasn't able to keep herself from blurting out as the possibilities suddenly ravaged her mind at what had taken place above. She hadn't sensed any great disturbance, but if Korriban's very dark energy had kept from her from sensing that anything had happened to…

"Ahsoka… ?"

Stepping into the long stretch that was the room littered with Sith artifacts and teachings of old, he looked around and nodded slowly, kicking aside a tablet as he did.

"She's alive, for the time being. I left her with a supposedly capable enough ally of mine, though I'm not sure how long it will be until one finishes off the other."

Rey found herself hating how she couldn't tell his expression as she walked around to stand alongside Ben, ready to fight alongside him the instant the moment came. The Sith continued musing as he walked, seemingly much more in control of his emotions than he had been in the room above; Rey could sense not nearly as much chaos flowing through and guiding his thoughts.

"You surprised me up there, Rey, you really did. You used my own thoughts against me and now you know why I'm on this planet."

Ben spoke up and Rey could feel him testing the waters with his brash statement. He was trying to get a gauge on what exactly this pursuit meant.

"You're wasting your time. Abeloth is a myth, nothing more."

A genuine laugh sprouted from behind the mask, one that rang long and true. As it faded away, the Sith shook his head and Rey was surprised to hear the genuine regret that sounded in his voice when he next spoke.

"You have no idea how much I would like to believe that, Ben Solo."

He let out a sigh, and Rey gave a shudder at how human he suddenly seemed.

"Abeloth is real, and just as dangerous as the legends spoke. It is crucial that I find a means of reaching her as soon as possible and those means lie in this very chamber."

Ben continued to bait, and Rey felt the same apprehension for what she was hearing in his thoughts as well.

"I've read the stories too. Even if she was real, she was sealed away by the Sith and the Jedi millenia ago. Her last ditch effort to bring about a creation to save her failed when Gwyn was destroyed."

The Sith reached down and picked up a slab covered with ornate Sith carvings and letterings. After glancing at it a moment, he tossed it against the wall where it shattered, priceless information shattering into nothingness.

"I don't know about any Gwyn, but Abeloth's seal won't last forever. I have to find her before it breaks and she is released on the galaxy again."

Rey interjected then, "You think that if you went to her and broke her bonds, she would be indebted to you? Serve you? I think that sounds awfully arrogant, even for a Sith."

Mask turning just barely for Rey to know he was facing her, the Sith replied quietly, humor reverberating darkly in his tone.

"I'm afraid you don't understand. I don't mean to ally myself with Abeloth. I mean to destroy her."

Rey had to keep from showing her surprise as she felt Ben's similar shock at the sudden revelation as the masked man before them continued, "I have spent a great deal of time examining all possible threats that could come about to challenge the order of the Sith that I will impose on the galaxy. Anything that could threaten the peace I will instill… I have no fear of the Republic, they will fall when the time comes. Their armies are meaningless next to the power of the Force."

He paced slowly back and forth, not drawing any nearer, but Rey could feel his aura pulsing darkly and more energetically the more he spoke.

"I have no fear of a Jedi Order coming forward to stop me, I believe you two are the closest that could come to that. And any assembly of freedom fighters like you brought together on Exegol have no chance of coming to bear against the power of the dark side."

A black gloved fist clenched and Rey sensed a change in the very pressure of the room itself.

"Abeloth is the greatest threat to the peace of the galaxy. I must find her and destroy her. And the key to that is just before me. So if you wouldn't mind standing aside… "

He made to walk forward, but in unison, Rey and Ben reached up with their free hands and pushed through the Force. Tablets and tables all around him were flung backwards to crash against the walls, but he only budged a couple of feet before coming to a rest and sighing. Reaching into his robes, he withdrew his lightsaber and once again, its fire snarled its way to life, joining the emerald and sapphire glows that already lit the room. Gesturing wearily, the Sith shook his head.

"This again?"

And the dark side rushed all around them as all three blades rushed to merge into a rainbow of chaos.


	14. Chapter 14

"_You cannot keep me restrained forever."_

"I will never give in to your influence, I am stronger than what's left of you."

"_Then why did you go seeking me? Was it not for the purpose of revenge, for the purpose of gaining a power you were without?"_

"I know what I have to do now, I was wrong when I first came here."

"_Ah yes, my home… the birthplace of a countless number of heretical fools who believed the Sith way could be spread across so many individuals. Do you truly think it wise to return both you and I to the place where from my strength, nay the dark side's strength, may in fact be the most powerful?"_

"…"

''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

"Observation: Though I am well aware of my own extensive combat abilities as well as your own, I must voice my doubt that engaging fourteen armed soldiers of unknown skill poses a larger risk than you may perhaps realize."

"HK, if I had wanted an opinion, I would have asked for it."

Not that Niroh was feeling particularly thrilled about his own plan anyway. Not that it was even much of a plan in the first place.

Per the request of Rey and reinforced command of Ben, he and the droid had cautiously skirted the jagged etchings of Korriban's surface and were now secluded in the shadows behind a natural set of short spires, looking at the fourteen man squad that had surrounded the _Ghost._ Though the order had been to simply return to the ship and await further encrypted instruction over their transponders, Niroh had hoped to draw whatever ground force had assembled away from the ship and potentially eliminate them. And while he was just as aware at how capable a fighter he was, the same with HK-47, the strange guise of the infantry before him was more than a little off-putting.

Stormtroopers would have been one thing. First Order trained or otherwise, those white clad foot soldiers were little more than glorified enforcers, ones that could be dealt with rather easily, all things considered; Niroh had axed more than a few of those Imperial relics himself in the past couple years.

But these were different. They were dressed in black garb, almost ceremonial looking, but it didn't take much to know this was an armor of some unknown make and density, and while Niroh knew his phrick blade was on par with a lightsaber, he would rather know for sure whether or not it would cut true before engaging. Helmets of varying shapes and likely purpose ornated their heads, black as their armor and gazing imperceptibly about them as they prowled the area around the ship. At the very least, their weapons were of a make that Niroh could recognize, assault rifles with no melee weapons visible.

"I figure we at least try to draw them away. Even if we don't engage, the more we can soften the guard on the _Ghost_, the easier it will be to eventually get out of here."

"Analysis: With no information on these soldiers, it would be difficult to predict any kind of outcome, and we would fare."

"I know that, you smartass sack of bolts, but do you have some kind of better idea you've been holding on to?"

There was a pause in which Niroh fully expected to hear the droid reply with an unhelpful comment and perhaps add that he hadn't been programmed to plan suicide missions, but he found himself surprised as HK-47 offered something different by way of an answer.

"Suggestion: Perhaps we find the lead officer of the ground units and attempt to take them prisoner to learn of particular codes or protocol, or perhaps use them as a hostage. Breaking away into hyperspace will be difficult enough as is with a squadron of unknown TIE-class fighters and a star destroyer keeping watch on the planet's orbit, it may be better to try and find some leverage that way."

Niroh considered this for a few long seconds before slowly nodding.

"Yeah, I think that actually _is _a better idea, all things considered."

"Observation: The wise and powerful Niroh has admitted that I, a lowly and meaningless droid, has come up with a strategy that puts even—"

"You're pushing it, HK. C'mon, we have an officer to track down."

''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

Exhaustion was finally starting to take a toll on Ahsoka and she feared it wouldn't be long before her commanding front would come crashing down and the former Inquisitor before her would gain an upper hand. She had actually recognized the young woman before her as they had fought; whilst working in active resistance against the Empire, she had procured a great many databank files on the numbered "Sister" Inquisitors. While she didn't know them by their number, she recognized this one in particular, for she had undergone a Jedi past, a trait that wasn't shared commonly with her fellow Inquisitors.

Trilla Suduri fought with a ferocious edge, something Ahsoka was having difficulty trying to counter effectively. Her unorthodox twin-bladed lightsaber was allowing her to maintain her assault relentlessly, despite the fact that her actual technique was hardly anything of real merit. There were traces of the first couple lightsaber forms that the Jedi Temple had taught long ago, but they had mostly been folded into something just as unseemly as her weapon.

The only thing that Ahsoka could think to do to shake that unflinching aggression that was being laid against her was to play at the motivation that she could feel driving Trilla. It wasn't some devotion to the dark side or a twisted hate towards the Jedi even that Ahsoka had felt from many a Sith disciple. The only thing she could sense was a desire to please, a desire to prove herself.

But to who, or what?

This question was all she needed to start playing at distractions and trying to break her opponent's focus, maybe more. "Whatever that Sith has promised you, surely you can see that it's empty? What did Vader tell you would come of serving his will? These dark orders don't last, and this man too will only lead you astray."

As a snapping reply was hurled at her, Ahsoka was less than thrilled to feel not even a hairline fracture in the resolve of the young woman who bore down her with murderous intent.

"Don't even bother trying to break me that way, Jedi. I was never loyal to Vader or the Empire. They broke my will and resolve in the Jedi Order and made me a puppet of their will, but I never believed in their proposed mission or the order they sought to bring to the galaxy."

With a leap and a flip, the red blade smacked against the silvery energy of Ahsoka's with enough power to nearly buckle Ahsoka's arms.

"I remember what happened just before I assumed I had died. I showed the barest fraction of resistance, the barest inkling of disloyalty to my mission and Vader cut me down. And now… "

Ahsoka felt a rush of something very much like excitement billow in her opponent as a whirlwind of crimson energy flew around her mercilessly.

"But I've been given a new chance. Not one to live as a slave, but one to become a part of something more than just a Republic or an Empire; the chance to harness the Force for true peace in the galaxy."

Her eyes burned with a violent resolve as their blades locked and strained against one another.

"And if you find the dark side counterintuitive to this approach, I'm afraid we'll just have to agree to disagree."

A roar in the Force rushed from her, but Ahsoka was able to take advantage of it, letting it throw her away, but catching herself just before a violent impact and landing a fair distance away lightly. Doing her best to draw on the Force to ease her aching muscles and help her draw in breath, she considered what she had just heard. It wouldn't help her manage any sort of advantage against Trilla, but it was very interesting what she had heard.

Trilla had been offered a choice, by the sound of it. Something that would likely had resulted in her demise had she denied it, but whatever it was, it had been very appealing to her likely damaged and battered mindset on the Force as a whole. The Sith she had just faced had offered her a place at his side and she had accepted. It had been enough to fill her with hope and the promise of bringing peace to the galaxy. Ahsoka knew this was what had been offered to her former master among other things, it was something the Sith always fell back on when trying to explain away terrible deeds or actions.

_Peace._

But how? What had this new Sith said that was any different to what the Empire had proposed and fought for? Was peace not something the Sith saw as an idea to be forced onto others, and attained through any means of oppression and violence? What had Trilla been told that made this same idea of peace so much more appealing than that the Empire and Palpatine had proposed?

Without any prodding, however, Trilla continued to snarl vehemently, "Thousands of years of the Jedi Order and they could never even come close to touching on the threat to their power and peace, something even Palpatine missed entirely. With the Sith as they are now, he… we will restore unity and security to the galaxy."

There it was. A chink in the mental armor that Ahsoka saw for the briefest moment, glistening as brightly as day in the black caverns of Korriban, a white glow in her mind against the red and silver illumination provided by their respective weapons. There had been a misstep, and Ahsoka hadn't missed it.

_Attraction?_

And as she set her mind to the single word, she suddenly knew entirely how she might be able to play this to her advantage.

"Sith are just incapable of love as an inanimate object. Whatever you see in him will amount to nothing."

It was little more than a shot in the dark, one that would amount to nothing short of a brief bout of confusion from Trilla if she was wrong. But all at once, the aggression slid to a halt and Trilla froze entirely, eyes wide in the crimson light of her blade as she panted away her exertion.

"You know nothing."

_Oh my… it was true,_ Ahsoka mused to herself. Trilla had seen this Sith, unmasked and had been smitten with perhaps his looks, his demeanor, his vision, or any number of things. It was little she could sense beyond a faint attraction, but it was real nonetheless. Ahsoka found herself hurting for Trilla, someone who had never known love, who had never been allowed to know love and was now just as much on a path towards never finding that clarity just as Ahsoka herself had failed to do so. Finding love had taken a backseat in serving the Force and Ahsoka had been prepared to deal with that consequence if it meant doing all in her power to help free the galaxy of the poison the dark side leaked.

But here now, that same thing she had willingly abandoned was what was inspiring Trilla to fight with such vigor and such resolve. The Sith had promised her an audience with his master, but Ahsoka could sense no desire to be granted such a favor.

_She wants him to be impressed. To notice her as more than just a tool. She doesn't care about any master, just him, and what he thinks._

The stray wisps in the Force from Trilla began to assemble around her in a much more readable sense, and Ahsoka could tell all she sensed was not only true, but it was weighing heavily on her opponent's mind. Strategy failed her then and she spoke from the heart, letting the former Inquisitor hear the regret in her voice.

"You can't find love in the dark side, Trilla."

This was all she managed before the young woman before her gave a roar of anger and redoubled her efforts to break Ahsoka's guard.

"I don't need your lectures! I'm free of the Empire, I can chase whatever I want, be that power, or a person, or an idea!"

Above the crackling of their blades, Ahsoka's voice was a ringing note of sadness in the dark.

"You really think that is his intention for you?"

In a whirl of fire, Trilla's lightsaber battered aside both of Ahsoka's blades and thrust at her chest, and it was with only a desperate leap backwards that she was able to keep from being run through.

"It doesn't matter! I'll prove to him my worth!"

"_Anakin… he struggles to do what is right by the Jedi Order. He is so intent on proving his worth to both us… and himself."_

Obi-Wan's melancholy tone drummed itself against Ahsoka's mind as a memory dredged up hollowly and for a moment, she was defenseless and that was all it took for two sharp flicks to drop her weapons from her hands. A surge of the hateful energy tossed her back, but it felt almost half-hearted; Ahsoka gasped as she collided with the ground and she rolled over to pick herself up. The world flickered into darkness as the tell-tale signs of passing out surged behind her eyes, and she quickly scrambled to try and pick herself up from her hands and knees. But as she looked at Trilla, her sudden desperation at being unarmed fell away.

Trilla looked to be on the verge of tears. "He… he looked inside me. He saw potential and… promise. He won't use me like the Emperor and Vader did. He won't."

What had this Sith done, or said, to elicit such a reply, Ahsoka wondered. This was true power, to make someone believe everything you said, especially in regards to their own character. Anyone could wield a lightsaber and draw upon the Force to strike down their foes, but it was a different skill entirely to pull someone to you with words alone. As the world spun, she struggled to remain conscious.

"I cannot say anything as to what he said. But he is Sith. Sith lust only for power and the peace they claim to bring with an iron fist. You cannot be anything more than a tool to him, but I don't say that to hurt you. It's all a Sith can do to keep such personal things apart from their very being."

The dark side faltered around her in a massive swell and for a moment, she thought Trilla would back down. Then, the young woman before her looked up with eyes burning of a most furious desperation.

"You can't take this from me. Nothing can!"

And as she pivoted forward, Ahsoka knew there was nothing she could do to avoid or deflect this attack; her lightsabers were already racing back to her hands, but Trilla was closer, and faster. Her mind was still spinning and she could feel the world beginning to darken as it was.

_Rey, I still wanted to tell you—_

A flash of the purest green lanced out and battered aside Trilla's assault with a powerful swing. The former Inquisitor was tossed backwards and landed unsteadily on her feet, blade raised in an aggressive stance against this new threat. Ahsoka was able to see little now, save for the distant glows of red and green, but a face passed before her briefly before her mind shut down and she lapsed into unconsciousness.

_Ezra._

'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

It was with a genuine pang of frustration that Rey realized that her efforts against the Sith seemed to be of little effect, even with Ben at her side. Despite his psyche seeming less in control after her reading of his intentions, he had taken the combat over with a startling and worrying air that Rey was doing all she could to keep him from seeing through. He wasn't just keeping up with them, he was actively able to force them back, seemingly at will.

As she riposted a thrust and spun away to avoid a sharp slash that whirled a hundred and eighty-degrees to meet Ben's saber, Rey found herself distantly musing over something else the Force had been able to tell her.

_Darth Banshor._

It had whispered not just a name, but the one and only title reserved for Sith. That had been enough to quell any doubt that had remained over whether or not this person was a true follower of the dark side, and Rey found this clarity did little to ease her tension.

"Really, this is rather pathetic."

That, and his taunts were getting just a little under her skin. Anger, worry and adrenaline were doing a number on her concentration and it was all she could do to keep and…

"_Rey, focus. We can beat him but we have to do it together."_

Ben's voice acted as a coolant to her raging thoughts and emotions and she fell back into a more controlled line of attack and defense as she replied.

"_I can't gauge any weakness, or anything we can use against him. He's put up strong mental barriers, I won't be able to get through again to try and worm my way into his head."_

"_We won't need you to. Eventually, he'll get too confident and we'll be able to take advantage of him then. Keep playing it like we're perpetually on our toes; he probably doesn't want to waste more time here than he has to, and that will make him reckless. Sooner or later, he'll slip up."_

Ben's words were reassuring to a powerful degree but as Rey blocked a swing and narrowly sidestepped a flick that would have taken her leg off at the knee, she wondered if they were true. She had sensed the enjoyment that Banshor had gotten out of pummeling her at the Jedi Temple, and the swiftness he had gotten past Ahsoka and to them indicated he wasn't pressed for outside resources.

The Sith drew back and spun into a powerful kick that caught Ben in the chest, sending him skidding to the ground and crashing into what looked like some kind of stone coffin. Before she could do so much as look away, Rey was forced to give ground as Banshor targeted were with a flurry of sweeping thrusts. She was just able to keep his blade from connecting with her heart as the green of her own weapon worked frantically to keep her from being touched, her grip on the Force being reduced to a fingerhold.

Ben picked himself up behind the Sith and leapt for his back, every fiber in his body dragging him towards a slice that would certainly halve the Sith should it have connected, but pieces of the wall itself tore free and smashed into him, impeding his progress. As Rey tried to slip past Banshor's guard to try and break his concentration, she felt a rush of fury from Ben who picked up an entire stone table and hurled it at Banshor—and it stopped in midair, spun, and slammed Ben across the back and to the floor once more before dropping harmlessly to the ground.

Rey knew then that it was going to take much more than mastery of lightsaber forms to break the Sith's charge. She could feel the same black energy rising in Ben, and though she had hoped never to have to call on it again, she knew she would have to if they were to succeed.

_For Ahsoka… for Niroh, and Finn, and Poe, and _everyone.

Banshor's voice echoed of someone who barely seemed to be paying attention.

"I had hoped for a little more than this."

And as Rey unlocked the burning fury in her heart, she responded and felt a small drop of surprise from her opponent.

"Hope we don't disappoint."

''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

To Banshor, it had genuinely been rather amusing to start.

Rey and Ben clearly had little idea how to properly utilize any semblance of proper teamwork and seemed to have assumed that simply rushing him as one would be enough to win the battle and overwhelm him. Rather, this made it far more easy than he had anticipated to dominate them; with a few well placed swings and bellows of dark side energy, he was able to keep them in each other's way, being just as much a nuisance to themselves as they were to him.

He felt them reaching into the Force for direction, for assistance in seeing his movements before they happened, to aid them in avoiding his powerful blows, but they didn't understand the power the dark side granted him. The Force directed them and he directed the Force, leaving him perpetually a step ahead of them. With his ability to disrupt their timing and any potential teamwork, he ruled the battle with ease.

"You both fight like the young fools you are. So confident after so little _actual _victory. You'll need to dive much darker if you seek to actually defeat me."

His taunt elicited no reaction from either of them however, and he was surprised to see them both step back and away from him, eying him with something that he could consider malice.

_Malice?_

"If you say so," said Ben Solo, and vanished.

Of course, he hadn't actually vanished but had leapt into the air with astonishing speed and brought down an overhead swing with enough power to blast apart the floor when Banshor sidestepped it. He moved to take advantage of Ben's miss, but instead of straightening, the former Supreme Leader bent into a roll, sweeping his lightsaber at the Sith's legs. Jumping to avoid it, Banshor looked up in time to see a furious thrust of emerald spear at his head and he just had time to duck away before Rey's lightsaber burned through his head.

That had been _exceptionally _too close and had come out of nowhere.

Rey and Ben were impossible to read in the Force from the moment they had engaged him, but their pure energy and fighting style had changed drastically. Their lightsaber form had become instantly more erratic and they attacked with all the tireless fury of starved animals. Banshor found himself no longer controlling the fight but doing all he could to keep them from beating him down; Rey's sheer power caused every blow to crash against his own weapon like the blast from a capital ship and every time he made to position himself away to try and recover, Ben was on top of him with a similar inescapable drive.

But it wasn't any ploy or inherent tactic that was causing them to gain an upper hand, Banshor realized.

They had both tapped into the dark well that rested inside all Force users and were drawing from it.

Heavily.

Perhaps it was time to alter the plan.

As a rain of blows descended upon him from Ben, Banshor felt Rey flash behind him with the same impossible speed he had leapt with before, but now it was time to take proper advantage of their aggression. He could tell their power was strengthening their blows, but was closing them off from the Force itself, a lesson he had been forced to come to terms with early on in his training. They were so focused on a single goal, a single objective driving them, that it may potentially make it all the easier for him.

Faking a glance back at Rey bearing down on him, he felt Ben rush towards him; Banshor looked back from Rey and rushed forward and to the side, grabbing the wrist that held the lightsaber and twisted, causing Ben to yell in pain. Pulling him around, Banshor threw Ben at Rey and at once he saw her dark demeanor crumple. As the Sith had guessed, Ben's safety was more important than defeating their opponent. She caught him and they both landed a distance away, their assault brought to a complete standstill. Banshor angled his blade towards them.

"I would have expected better of you, Ben Solo. The dark side doesn't take kindly from being used so recklessly. Didn't Snoke teach you that?"

They both ignored his jibe and readied themselves to charge him again, and as Banshor prepared to meet them, something caught his eye, glowing in the luminous blue glow of Ben's lightsaber. The same symbol he had seen in his master's chamber on a tablet resting carelessly against the wall stared at him, and in a moment, he realized he had found what he was looking for.

''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

Ben sensed the atmosphere change immediately and knew something was amiss. At first, he reached up above them to try and see if it was Ahsoka's predicament that had caused the shift, but when he could no longer feel the Sith's attention directed towards them, he caught a glancing trail of its energy and turned to see that it was directed towards a stone slab leaning against a table to their right. Shouting with sudden realization, he reached into the Force and grabbed the object before attempting to blast it to pieces, but it caught in midair. For a moment, it hovered between them, shaking violently and Ben felt the gravity of this tablet fall onto him as the intentions of Darth Banshor coalesced in his head.

Whatever was on this ancient piece of stone was exactly that what had inspired the Sith's visit to Korriban in the first place, and likely what had led the Force to direct him and Rey to that singular damp and dark room. The three of them had been brought together again and here was the dark figure's chance to attain what he had come for.

With strain in his voice, the Sith called out as the tablet shook more fervently in the air between them, "Release it, and I'll show you what it is that you're so frightened of. Look upon it with me and you'll come to see the galaxy as I do, in dire peril."

A traditional draw, one that Ben could have seen coming from a light-year away; behind him, he felt Rey gathering her own energy up.

"I think we'll take our chances."

With a shuddering thud in the Force, Rey rocketed past him and slashed the tablet through with her lightsaber and it exploded in a cloud of dusty debris. Shouting angrily, Banshor drew a hand back and sent a discharge of lightning from the hand that had been attempting to pull the tablet to him their way. They were both able to catch the lightning on their blades, vastly reducing the damage it might have done to them as the Sith shouted above the crackling of pure energy.

"You two have no idea what you're impeding. The more you interfere, the more risk you put on the galaxy to be swallowed up by an evil far more ancient than any Sith or Jedi conglomerate."

As the blue forks of energy dissipated, Rey spoke up to Ben's right, "Is that what you say to convince yourself that you're fighting for some kind of righteous cause?"

"You both are horribly naïve. You truly think you know everything about my plight?"

The Force around them suddenly curved and snapped behind at their backs, flinging both Ben and Rey towards the Sith as though he had suddenly acquired a powerful gravitational pull. Had they not then vaulted up and over him, landing clumsily at adjacent points, the thrumming sweep of his bloodred weapon would have cut them both in half at the waist.

"When the galaxy is at risk, the foremost thing to do is to find that risk and remove it. Years ago, it was the Jedi Order and the corrupt Republic. Now, it is something much more all-consuming than either of those detrimental societal constructs."

He pointed with his weapon.

"The two of you might plant the seeds of a new Jedi Order, and rest assured, I will deal with that in time. But for now, there is a much more pressing threat."

Hoping to perhaps gain more insight into what the man before him was presuming, Ben tried again to bait some sort of further explanation.

"You're chasing nothing more than an old legend. If Abeloth truly was real, she was destroyed by the Jedi and Sith after she sent her child after them."

Banshor took a long breath and rotated his shoulder in an almost thoughtful motion. "Ah yes, this fabled son of Abeloth 'Gwyn', you speak of. How curious indeed that in all the holocrons dredged up in this nonstop research, I found no mention of such a name, yet you come before me with even less knowledge on the subject and speak that name. And then, just now… I see it in Korriban's logs of the past."

A fist wrapped around Ben's gut and he tightened his muscles in trepidation.

_He saw it._

"But no matter. I will uncover all in time, but until then, you are simple obstacles. Powerful obstacles I will grant you, but directionless, undisciplined and ignorant. The strongest ones I've ever fought were those who threw off the shackles of the Jedi way and tried to look at themselves for what they were. You both haven't even come close to such a revelation, and it makes you weak. You cannot stop me."

"Then might I try?"

All at once, the room was filled with a vastly new presence, one that Ben couldn't recall ever having felt. He looked past the Sith to see a new figure standing in the entrance of the chamber; tall and lean with dark hair down to his shoulders and a grizzled face, covered in old laugh lines and etchings of conflict, it was no mistaking the face of someone who had lived through a war. He gripped a lightsaber as vibrantly green as the one Rey currently held. His presence was nothing if not commanding and somehow, it seemed almost familiar.

Banshor loosed a low chuckle. "Well, well. Ezra Bridger. I thought we had seen the last of you on Dathomir, but here you are again. An eternal thorn in the side of the Sith."

The man fixed the Sith with an intense expression. "You might be surprised."

Ben's shock waned enough for him to step forward and regain control of his vocal chords.

"Wait. _You're _Ezra?"

The man never took his eyes of Banshor as he replied, "Afraid so, kid."

Gesturing behind him, he adopted a traditional Ataro stance.

"Ahsoka is back in the antechamber that leads down here. She's unconscious but alive. You need to take her and get off this planet. If this bastard's forces are able to communicate that you of all people are down here, they'll have their fleet surrounding Korriban's orbit in an instant."

Ben found that things were suddenly moving a little too quickly for his taste; he had been so caught up on defeating Banshor and dishing out some just desserts that he hadn't even really thought of what would come after. And now, Ezra, the man who Ahsoka had spoken with in a voice tinged with regret and fear, had come to their aid after supposedly tracking them across the galaxy with an unknown and potentially evil intent. And he was telling them to run.

Ben didn't want to run. He wanted answers, from Banshor and now from Ezra. But as he felt the vastly controlling and powerful presences of the former Jedi and Sith in the room, he suddenly felt terribly outmatched. Almost to the point of wanting to crawl into a hole and hide and wait until these two had left the planet. He hadn't been able to touch Banshor even by tapping into the dark side and now Ezra was here with power still yet unknown. As Rey stepped to his side and touched his arm, he knew that retreat was not only the wisest option, it might be their only option.

Because who knew if Ezra was even on their side?

"Why are you helping us?" was all he could manage as Rey dragged him gently towards the exit of the chamber. Banshor and Ezra hadn't moved, two statues of pure Force energy, but the latter spared him a brief reply that was no less reassuring.

"Purely by consequence."

"Ben!"

With a shout from Rey, Ben shut off his lightsaber and ran from the room, ran from the Sith lore of thousands of years and ran from the two beings that had truly and genuinely frightened him. He clenched his teeth as he and Rey sprinted up the cavernous tunnel, far faster than any human could ever hope to move.

_Next time. Next time, I'll be stronger. Next time, I won't run._

It was all he could do to keep from believing he was infinitely less than the two men he had just left.

''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

"Suggestion: Ask her how they knew to find us on Korriban."

"You heard the droid, lady. I suggest you answer him."

"You know that as an officer, I will not betray any intelligence of my command to any captors, regardless of your allegiance or rank."

"Suggestion: Cut little pieces of her off until she finds herself in a divulgatory mood."

"HK, that's not helping."

"No, listen to your pet droid. It doesn't matter how much I'm tortured, I will not give up any information and the more battered I am, the less likely, my superiors will find it prudent to not just blast you to pieces, regardless of any danger to me."

"Lady, you're not helping matters either, shut up."

Niroh found himself in a very awkward position. Just behind a collection of half-blasted spires, he and HK-47 were currently holding a Loneran female officer hostage while her ground troops stood just beyond, weapons surely trained on their hiding place. They had done a serviceable job of blasting Niroh's cover and everything around it before finding that their commanding ground officer had been taken captive and were currently keeping them from moving from their likely short-lived hiding spot.

Commander Linra, as was her name, seemed very unconcerned about the proceedings and despite a few hits from HK, was not much the worse for wear, save a nasty cut that had opened above her left eye after the droid had struck her a little too hard. Niroh was certain that whoever had taken over as the stand-in commanding officer for the fourteen soldiers just beyond his sight had surely contacted the star destroyer above and who had surely gotten ahold of the TIE-class fighters that had been examining Korriban's orbit. Any moment now, they could be subject to a fair few more troops and would likely be surrounded.

This suddenly wasn't seeming like such a good idea.

"HK, have you been able to raise… our crewmates?"

"Response: At regular intervals, but have not heard anything in reply."

"Fantastic."

He looked down at Commander Linra who gazed up at him flatly.

"Well, commander. I think we might be having to ramp up our plans a bit here considering your compatriots are surely better and more able in terms of their equipment and resources."

"Do tell."

"I think we're just going to have to take you aboard and negotiate your release for our being granted permission to leave the planet. There's a comm station on board that you can use to talk to your boss and we'll try to work something out."

"Tremendous idea for a piece of gutter trash."

HK-47 drew back an arm to strike her again and she gave a slight wince in preparation but Niroh caught his metal arm with the flat of his phrik blade.

"Let's not, for the time being. Worse comes to worse, you'll get to dismember her for free just before we're blown to smithereens."

"Statement: As perfect a parting gift as I could ask for."

'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

This is how it feels to be Ezra Bridger, in a moment of clarity.

You have defied all odds and survived, despite your years of delving into the darkest secrets of the Force you.

You are strong and powerful, unmatched by all but a few in your abilities in the Force.

You have felt betrayal in every sense of the word and have been the one who has betrayed on more than once occasion.

And every movement you make, every breath you take in and out, and every thought that passes through your mind is one that is read by someone that is not you.

Because you made one truly terrible mistake in your adventures, in your time alone.

You know that Ahsoka, your last living friend, would never understand, nor would you expect her to, or even want to.

Because just as you were a vessel for your own hate for years, you have now become a vessel for him.

He lives in every part of your being, regardless of whether or not you feel him. You push him down and try to snuff out his voice, but in every moment of weakness, in every lapse of focus or concentration, he rises up. You don't know if you can keep him from taking you over entirely forever, but you do know that you will likely be saddled with him for the rest of your life. He is a part of you, and will forever be just in the back of your mind, whispering of doubt and trying to force you to submit.

But now, just for a moment, you can be free of him.

Because you remember what it's like to care about someone other than yourself.

You dispatched Trilla with ease, not because of your skill or greater power in the Force, but because it was Ahsoka you were fighting for.

Just as it is Ahsoka you are about to fight for.

You look forward several long meters and see a Sith before you, a living and breathing metaphor of the spirit that lives within you. He hides behind a mask, clad in a cloak that could just as much be a part of the surrounding shadows as a piece of clothing. His weapon is the color of the hate steaming behind your eyes and though you cannot sense his feelings just yet, you know that he will soon feel what it means to be your enemy.

This is all you have left.

A fight for something you yourself don't even truly understand anymore. Maybe when it is over, he will stand victorious above you and you will finally be snuffed and the spirit within you will be cast away with your demise. Perhaps that's not such a bad thing, but you won't let it come easily.

This man, this Sith tried to hurt Ahsoka, your friend, very perhaps your reason for living.

And as you raise your lightsaber, you find that to be more unforgivable than any other crime that could be fashioned.

But you know you cannot win. He's waiting for you, they both are. One with the intent to kill, the other with the intent to fully make you submit. He allowed you to defeat Trilla but though he does all he can to hide his intentions, you know you will lose here. And in the time you spend wrestling with him mentally, the Sith before you will cut you down.

That is why your lightsaber is a sham. A ploy to make the man before you ready for a duel when in reality, you are letting all the Force energy you can pull flow out from you, into the walls and floor, into the very being of Korriban itself. You hide it from the Sith before you and the Sith within.

So when you do what is necessary to keep your mind from being invaded, and to keep this Sith from hurting Ahsoka further, neither of them see it coming.

'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

"Ben, here!"

Rey pulled at stones desperately with her bare hands to remove the slight debris that had collapsed over Ahsoka. A touch into the Force informed her that this was nothing severe, but seeing the former Jedi so vulnerable had caused her worry to shrivel her insides. Ben was beside her in an instant, gently pushing her aside and lifting Ahsoka in his arms.

"We have to get back to the ship."

She nodded and moved to lead the way, intending to keep him and Ahsoka protected, but before she even managed a few steps past him, he stopped her.

"Rey."

Looking back, she saw him watching her with practically excitable eyes.

"Did you see it?"

In truth, Rey didn't know what she had seen. The tablet had glowed in the impending fall of her lightsaber for a moment so brief, yet long enough for her to commit a portion of it to memory within the Force. She would need to concentrate and focus to be able to recollect any of what she had seen, but she knew there was something to it that they would be able to learn from.

She could do nothing but nod quickly as she spoke with clear intent.

"We'll worry about that later. Let's go."

But as they raced upwards through the tunnels of the Korriban buildings, she knew deep down that part of her was trying to keep from seeing that mental image. Because it told her something in its very meaning, though she could do nothing to understand the glyphs she had seen. It had been a feeling in the Force, something that told her in no uncertain terms, that Banshor may very well be right. About Abeloth, about everything.

She didn't have time to ponder this very long however as behind them, there came a great roaring as though the planet itself was reshaping in one giant cataclysmic event. The floor rumbled beneath them and she and Ben both let the Force keep them steady as they ran from the shuddering inner sanctum of the Sith temple and out into the blasted landscape of Korriban. As the deafening sound behind them faded away along with the shaking of the very ground beneath them, she looked at Ben.

"Do you think… Ezra beat him?"

It was a hope as much as a question, but Ben offered no solace to the thought.

"If we can't sense anything, we have to assume the worst. And we are not wasting time waiting for him one way or another, we need to get off this planet."

She could do nothing short of agree with that, and the two of them sprinted further up the jagged edges and plateaus of the planet, past the great cave they had briefly taken refuge in and hoisted themselves up what was essentially a cliff to see the _Ghost_ before them and the surreal scene that accompanied it.

Niroh was struggling to hold his own against three black clad soldiers who had surely accompanied Darth Banshor to the surface. What looked like a dozen or so others lay scattered around the ship, smoking injuries indicating their cause of demise. With Ben still holding Ahsoka, Rey let a shout in the Force carry her in a powerful leap to land just behind one of the soldiers and driving him through with her lightsaber. Moments later, she had decapitated the second and disarmed the third, allowing Niroh to impale him neatly. It was strangely cathartic to reign destruction on weaker beings when she had, yet again, felt so powerless to manage anything against the Sith.

Her brief elation faded away as she looked at the state of Niroh; the shock weapons the Sith soldiers had been using had done a number to him and he was sporting a series of burns and injuries. He winced as he straightened, dragging a hand to clutch at his side as he limped over to her.

"Thanks for the save."

Rey looked around at the carnage strewn about the _Ghost's_ landing site.

"You did all this?"

He chuckled, "Hey don't take me for granted, I can put up as good a fight as any Jedi, despite not being a Force user myself."

He prodded one of the soldiers that had just fallen before them.

"These guys though… they're on another level. I think they may actually have had a couple chances to kill me, but they seemed like they were trying to capture me more than anything. They fight well too, nothing like the weaklings they drum out of the stormtrooper program."

Rey nodded, impressed and concerned for his wellbeing before jerking her chin towards the ship.

"I'll take a look at you inside, right now, we need to get off this planet."

Niroh looked past her and his eyes widened.

"WAIT, DON'T!"

His shout was hurled at Ben who was heading up the ramp to take Ahsoka aboard and reached him just as a blaster shot exploded above his head. He toppled backwards, Ahsoka's body barely staying in his grip; laying her down quickly, he drew his lightsaber and angled it towards the ship.

Hobbling over to the _Ghost's_ ramp, Niroh waved his arms desperately.

"HK, HK, all clear! All clear!"

He leaned against the ship's landing gear and waited as Rey caught up to him. She, him and Ben looked up cautiously into the ship's main cabin before a familiar robotic voice carried down to them.

"Apology: I was strictly ordered to fire on anyone boarding the ship if I hadn't been given the all clear by Niroh."

Ben shot the young man an angry look.

"How fortunate you lived long enough to call that out."

Niroh shrugged sheepishly.

"Seemed a good idea at the time."

Ben recollected Ahsoka and the three of them rushed aboard. Rey was surprised to see that HK-47 was not alone and was directing the heavy blaster that he had nearly shot Ben with at a bound Loneran female who was dressed in something resembling an Imperial uniform. Niroh gestured at her with his blade before sheathing it on his back.

"She was the head officer of the squad around the ship. Figured we could try and barter with her life to the star destroyer above so we don't get obliterated trying to leave atmosphere."

Ben gave a dismissive wave.

"She means nothing in regard to capturing us."

The Loneran looked from him to Rey and back to him before letting out an impressed noise.

"So the two of you really are on the run. What are the odds we run into you on a scavernger hunt of our own?"

He shot her a look.

"Keep quiet, or I'll make you."

Niroh leaned against the wall, clearly struggling just to stay standing.

"So what do you think then? What's the play? I suppose if she's not of any help, you can just axe her."

Rey shook her head as Ben laid Ahsoka down on one of the pull out beds in the main cabin.

"No… we can't use her as a bargaining chip, but she's our best bet of getting off Korriban."

She was met with three confused looks and Ben cocked his head at her.

"How?"

Rey found herself adopting a gentle smile.

"I think I have an idea."

''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

In the pitch black of the Korriban underground, a red lightsaber bathed the wreckage that had just been wrought. Moments later, a black gloved hand reached up to grab it and Darth Banshor forced his way out of the devastation that had just been laid in the room. Heart still racing, he straightened and looked around.

He had never seen it coming. One moment, he had been prepared to meet Ezra in a duel that he was confident he could win with relative ease. The next, he had seen what looked like someone standing just behind Ezra, hidden in shadow. It was only when he realized that the mysterious figure was someone he was seeing in the Force that the very world seemed to explode around him. He must have blacked out briefly and now he had come to in what was now a massive hollowed out cavern that had been blown open by Ezra's power. Shaking his head, the Sith reached out in the Force to try and sense Ezra lying amongst the rubble, but he could find now discernible presence.

_There is no time. Whatever that was, if Ezra survives, I'm sure I'll see it again._

It was entirely possible that the former Jedi had already escaped back the way he had came anyway.

_How much time has passed?_

He wasn't about to embarrass himself and try and reach out to Commander Linra and start asking stupid questions like how long he had been gone. The Force was still shakily in his grasp, and he would recover his grip on the situation readily.

Still… that power. As he worked his way back up the tunnel, he allowed himself to be impressed. The speed with which he had gathered that energy and then unleashed it, and so much energy as well. And to do it undetected until the moment of? Had that truly been Ezra? Or whatever he had seen… behind him?

Banshor shook his head.

_No time to be wasted on the unknown. All will be clear in time._

He found himself in the antechamber that he had faced off against Ahsoka in and realized that he had left someone of his own in this very room. Reaching into the Force, he found her immediately, half-buried and unconscious.

A wave of his hand cast aside the debris that had covered her and he bent to one knee, reaching under her neck to lift her gently.

Calling on the Force, he uttered, "Trilla."

There was a brief moment, something so slight he barely even noticed it, but there was the barest flicker in his gut as he thought for a moment that, rather like the a Vratixan blood eagle, she had a very sharp and predatory beauty about her.

_In another life, she would have been a stunning young woman with such a spurious promise about her… then the Jedi and the Empire took her and shaped her to their hearts' content. You will be of much greater use to me. _

Then, the moment passed and she gasped, eyes springing open as she sat up properly. Banshor noted that she had grabbed the forearm he had been using to sit her up and after a moment, she seemed to remember where she was, and who he was. She scrambled to her knees as he slowly stood, looking down to regard her; he knew what was coming.

"My lord, I failed. I was able to defeat Ahsoka Tano, but another came along and I… "

_Say it._

"… was no match for his power."

He sighed mentally. He had known that was coming, but it still wasn't good to hear. Using the dark side meant that you had to be aware that no matter how bad a loss, or how unmatched you felt you were, the dark side would always be able to rise to your side and claim you a victory. It was never that you were bested by someone stronger, it was that you hadn't tapped into the dark side to its fullest potential. Trilla would have to learn that.

"On your feet, Trilla. You've done well."

She looked up with surprise and slowly obeyed his command. He realized that she looked about the exact same height as him.

"I didn't expect you to hold your own against Ahsoka, but you've surprised me with your ability. You lasted long enough for me to complete my mission, and that was all I asked for."

He took a step forward and removed his mask, letting her see the intent in his eyes and reveling at the fear and admiration he could see on her face. His power was something to be respected exactly as he was seeing in her now.

"But make no mistake. Next time you will be better. You will have to be better."

Taking a deep, unfiltered inhale of the chamber's musty air, he turned, cape billowing over his shoulder.

"Come. I have the feeling we aren't quite finished on Korriban."

'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''


	15. Chapter 15

Commander Leesian was not a being given to hesitation or undue contemplation under any circumstances. On his home planet of Kaleesh, his parents had fought hard to free their planet of the Huk that had come to their shores, following the disaster that the Clone Wars had brought on their home. They had trained him as they had been, to be fearless, empty of regret and fear. Had he been asked before that day if he could recall a single time since joining the Sith fleet under Lord Plageuis if he had ever once felt an inkling of doubt, he would have denied it.

But as the small freighter that had the entire firepower of the Star Destroyer at his command prepared to be unleashed upon it left the surface of Korriban and began to hover up towards the planet's outer atmosphere with an incoming transmission to boot, Leesian was able to admit to himself that he was certainly at odds with the situation.

"Commander, the ship is hailing us. Do you wish to patch them through?"

Though he remembered the orders stressed upon him by Lord Banshor, Leesian found himself nodding. They had not been contacted once by their ground forces and if they had lost comms and needed to commandeer the freighter they were investigating, that would certainly explain the strange situation before him. That, and he didn't think his Sith master would all too thrilled to be fired upon. All in all, it seemed a reasonable assumption and he worked his way to the communication booth to stand behind the crew member manning it.

"_Commander Leesian, this is Commander Linra. As per the command of Lord Banshor, I have acquired several prisoners and am transporting them to the _Relentless_. Lord Banshor has requested the ship be properly scanned and searched upon our arrival. He will join us following the conclusion of his search."_

Relief spread through Leesian's veins and he allowed himself to feel something akin to satisfaction.

"Understood, Commander. We will be prepared to receive you."

The channel was switched off and he turned to the personnel relaying orders to the rest of the ship.

"Have hanger four prepared for their arrival. I want three squads on deck and six more standing by. I don't know who or what sort of prisoners we will be receiving, but I will not be taking any chances."

Though what was the point of worrying, really? He was sure the prisoners wouldn't be of any real trouble, no matter who they were. This was a ship stocked entirely with the best soldiers the Sith fleet had to offer, hundreds upon hundreds of beings ready to unleash their…

"Commander?"

His train of thought trailed off as he glanced at the bridge crew member who had addressed him, a furrowed brow indicating to him something was amiss.

"Yes?"

"They aren't approaching hanger four, sir, actually. They're going to be passing our starboard side at their current trajectory."

This should have been something to cause significant unrest in Leesian's mind, but for some reason, he simply couldn't be bothered to even consider it. But nor could he think of anything to say in reply. It was as though his mind had suddenly gone blissfully blank to the situation and a hand was on his shoulder with a reassuring voice ensuring that everything was under control. It was a feeling unlike anything he could had imagined before and it was more than a welcome emotion.

But there was a voice, the voice of the bridge crew echoing as though from far away, "Sir? How should we proceed?"

Proceed? How indeed… was he supposed to know how to handle something like this?

"Sir, they aren't responding to our hailing them! How should we proceed?!"

The more emphatic their voices became in his ear, the more distant they seemed to get. That other voice, the one that wasn't quite speaking but certainly in his head was ensuring him that all was fine, all was well…

"Sir, they've detached an escape pod and are powering their engines! Sir, we have to—"

A terrible screaming sound blasted overhead and the TIE-shadow fighter piloted by Captain Nizhia roared past the bridge with meters to spare. Leesian found himself suddenly and very jarringly back in an acute awareness of what was happening but entirely too late to do much more than turn his head with the rest of the crew to see Nizhia slash over the bridge of the ship, the four laser cannons of his ship pounding beams of green energy into space at the small freighter which had indeed left behind a small escape pod. The efforts were a moment too late however as the freighter hovered in space a moment, almost perfectly still and then became a distant memory as it jumped into hyperspace.

Leesian reached out in front of him to grab the railing, his mind racing. What had that feeling just been? It was though something had possessed him to be totally at ease with the situation and he genuinely felt as though the presence had come and gone in less time than it took to blink. The presence had rendered him completely worthless for a span of about thirty seconds, enough time to completely fail in what he had been commanded to do. Utterly dumbfounded and disgusted, he walked away from the railing in time to hear the intercom of the ship crackle as Nizhia's furious voice snapped over the bridge with the fury of a laserwhip.

"_Leesian, what the hell are you doing?! They just blew past the destroyer without a hitch, why weren't they blasted to pieces the moment they left the ground?!"_

He had no answer for the furious young pilot and instead asked a question of his own, hearing his own disappointment with the situation strongly present in his voice.

"Is the pod still off our bow?"

There was a pause as Nizhia likely processed what he had heard before replying with a bitter affirmative.

"Tractor beam it into the nearest hanger. We need to have something to show Lord Banshor before he executes me."

''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

Rey tried to slow the racing of her heart even as they beamed their way through the safety of hyperspace. The maneuver they had just pulled had been entirely risky and could have ended with them being atomized in an instant if she and Ben had lost focus. Still, she couldn't help but smile as she walked back into the cabin and saw the smile on Ben's face and the shocked look on Niroh's face. Ahsoka still lay motionless in bunk nearest the cockpit, but her condition was stable. In all, it had been as clean a getaway as they could have asked for.

Wincing briefly as HK-47 ran surgical movements over his injuries, applying healing and relief, Niroh looked between them in something that resembled pure bemusment.

"So, I don't get it. How in the hell did we just fly right past a star destroyer and get away?"

Rey looked at Ben with a warm look before replying.

"With a bit of effort, we were able to reach into the mind of the commander of the ship. Commander Linra has a tough mental defense, but we were able to get into her head and both make her relay that message you heard as well as look into her memories. With those, we were able to find out who was in charge aboard the ship."

Niroh paused for a moment before adopting a much more reserved look, and Rey laughed internally; it was clear he was not used to being as impressed as he was.

"So you basically froze an entire star destroyer in time because you got into the head of a single being?"

Rey and Ben nodded in unison and Niroh shook his head, "Sheesh, not entirely sure what we're so worried about on this trip if you two are so damn invincible."

Though the young man didn't recognize it, a sobering atmosphere sucked its way through Rey's mind and she felt the same reaction from Ben. She felt his urging and she stood.

"Take a rest after you've been patched up, we'll take the wheel."

For a moment, it looked like Niroh wanted to say more but he sighed out a long breath and gave her a nod. Sparing a glance at Ahsoka, Rey followed Ben into the _Ghost's _cockpit. The door hissed shut leaving them in the company of the controls and the blinding swirl of blue and white that composed hyperspace. Letting out a long sigh of her own, Rey collapsed into the left seat, pushing fingers against her temples.

Ben's voice was firm and final.

"Darth Banshor."

Rey clenched her free hand into a fist.

"He's a Sith. And not like anything I've ever fought."

"Not like anything _either_ of us have fought."

She sensed his unrest with what had occurred twisting through the Force all through the cabin. "Not once… Snoke sent me all over the galaxy in my training and I fought many beings, many of them Force sensitive. But the grip he had on the dark side… he was toying with us. Even when we dipped into the dark side ourselves, he was on top of us in an instant."

"I know."

"We distracted him for maybe a second, if that. At no point did I feel we truly had any sort of upper hand."

"Ben… "

"It won't happen again, he caught me off guard once but I won't let it happen to me, to _you_, I'll be ready for whatever he has in store—"

"Ben!"

He cut off and seemed to catch himself, chest slowly heaving as he regained his composure. Giving her an apologetic look, he dropped into the seat next to her, looking as tired as she felt.

"I'm sorry. I'm not used to being outmatched like that. When it was against you, it was always different, it was like we were both just… running the motions. Like it was all meant to be. But him… I've never felt that… that… "

"That scared?"

As he looked over to her, Rey knew she had hit the nail on the head; there was still so much pride in Ben Solo that even now, when it was just the two of them in the depths of space, he didn't want to admit to his fear.

"Yeah."

She leaned over and put her hand over his.

"You know, I was there too. I felt the same as you did. Whatever strength he has, we couldn't match it because we weren't ready."

His expression seemed to grow even darker.

"He could have killed us if Ezra hadn't arrived. And Ezra might be dead now too for all we know. We didn't gain anything from fighting him except knowing that we aren't strong enough."

Surprised at his narrow view on the situation, Rey shook her head, "Didn't gain anything? Ben, we know what the Sith are after! Banshor and his army are on the search for something that I'm still not sure I believe even exists! But we know his goal, everything that he does is in pursuit of this!"

Slowly, she felt his own self-doubt be pushed aside as he considered the actuality of what had happened. His voice went from worried to thoughtful, "You're right. We know what he wants. But where does that leave us?"

Before Rey could even articulate that she wasn't sure of where to go from there, a shrill symphony of beeps from the console blared at them. They both leaned forward to see what the ship's computer was suddenly so distressed about, and Rey bit back a curse.

"That TIE-class ship must have sliced us after all. Our engines aren't going to be able to go for long at light speed, the adapter to the hyperdrive needs to be fixed."

Fingers moving over the console, Ben pulled up a map of the systems within their reach.

"We'll have to pick some spaceport to stop at, though I was hoping to make it to at least Mygeeto… do you think we can make it to Mimban?"

Rey studies the map before them and then gave a sort of helpless shrug.

"As good a bet as any. We don't know what kind of presence the New Republic has in any of these systems, not really. We'll have to trust in the Force."

Already punching in the coordinates into the nav-computer, Ben's reply was as optimistic as she could have asked for.

"Always our best hope."

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Banshor toed the body of one of the Sith soldiers with an annoyed black boot as he glanced around at the area where the ship that had carried Rey Palpatine and Ben Solo had been parked not minutes ago. Commander Linra was nowhere to be seen and a glance at the shuttle told him that at the very least, they had been cut of their communications.

_So they got away._

He shouldn't have been surprised, but he was still curious to hear the excuses that were surely going to be offered when he got back on board the _Relentless_. He imagined some Force tricks of the mind were probably what got his crew down on their guard and why there wasn't a massive crater where he now stood. In the defense of Leesian and Linra and whoever else might have had their mind overpowered, he didn't imagine anyone would have been able to keep from being strung along like a puppet.

"My lord, I may be able to work some repairs on the shuttle if we want to attempt to transmit to the surface."

Trilla's voice brought him back to his own situation and he half turned to shake his head.

"They'll send a battalion down after what just happened. They've heard no contact from me and they just let a pair of fugitives slip right past them; protocol dictates that we'll see a ship breaching the atmosphere within a couple minutes."

Silence fell between them and Banshor could feel her intently searching for some way to be useful and he spoke up before she got too carried away.

"Patience. Focus not on what cannot be done."

Her presence in the Force slowly became more calmed as she heeded his words and Banshor smiled behind his mask. Her obedience and desire to be of use was refreshing; not only was she a Force user with exceptional natural power and experience, but she was eager to be of service. Though he was still unsure of how best to utilize this advantage, he was nonetheless grateful for her.

_Still…_

The brief feelings he had encountered in the chambers beneath Korriban's surface had been all to worrying. He supposed he ought to consult his master upon returning to the _Calamity_, but a very overpowering piece of his psyche was adamantly against it. Possessiveness and passion were strong tenets of Sith teaching but Banshor never would have guessed they would come to him in the form of an underling.

_No matter._

He shook his head mentally and cast aside his doubt. There was nothing to be worried about, especially not now, especially not after what he had seen. The key piece of the puzzle he and his master had been hunting for years had finally been uncovered and a distraction like Trilla would only…

Banshor turned to see her looking at him and she turned her eyes down just as quickly. Half turning away, she walked slowly away, but in the Force, Banshor could feel the beat of her heart as her black cloak swirled in the gentle breeze of Korriban's evening. For a moment, Banshor forgot what he was thinking about before shaking himself and gritting his teeth.

_Damn._

Perhaps this was going to be more of an issue than he thought.

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

As the _Ghost_ dropped out of hyperspace, Rey felt her muscles clench as the ship gave a rattling shudder, clearly in worse shape than even the computers suggested. Niroh appeared behind them in the cockpit entrance, and Rey could feel the unease in his voice.

"We okay?"

Ben's voice replies in a clipped tone and Rey knew he was also worried about their current predicament.

"We sustained some damage just before making the jump to light speed. We're going to stop by Mimban and try and make some repairs."

Niroh stepped between them to stare out towards the silvery grey atmosphere of the planet they were approaching. "Smart call. Talk about an unpleasant, out of the way planet. Got a feeling we won't be bugged here."

He knocked on the wall of the ship as he reentered the main cabin and Rey tried to feel optimistic about what he had said, but as she stared at the clouds and wondered might await them beneath the surface, she worried that such a feeling might not be so achievable.

Ben pointed ahead of them towards a particularly darker set of clouds.

"Just near that storm is a spaceport just atop the marshland. If we can make it there before the storm hits, we can put the ship in a hangar and wait a few hours to see if anyone comes poking. When the coast looks clear, we can try and salvage parts we need. We should be able to fix it ourselves as long as we have the parts, between you and I, and the droid."

Just hearing a plan was enough to give Rey something solid to think about and she relished the thought as she pushed uncertainty away. Nodding, she took the controls alongside him and nudged the ship down towards the planet's surface.

Mimban had seen it's fair share of war in the centuries past, from what Rey had studied. Though its actual landscape and raw materials weren't much of great note, its placement in the galaxy itself made it a valuable stopgap for whoever was in control of it. This had made it a point of contention throughout many conflicts, from the Clone Wars all the way back to the days of the Sith Empire of old.

Covered entirely in swamps and marshland, Mimban was in perpetual cover of cloud and fog when it wasn't being ravaged by thunderstorms and rain. The brightest days on the planet's surface were a light grey and its darkest were as black as night could be. Very little land was elevated above where it wasn't purely mud and muck, and it was atop one of these few plateaus a couple miles wide that Rey took the _Ghost_ towards. As they breached the cloud bank and took the ship low over the Mimban's wet and brown surface, she found herself surprised at the high level of cloud cover but as she looked in the distance in the kilometers beyond the spaceport, the looming storm was enough of a reason for why. Towering and black, it flickered with occasional flashes that causes Rey to feel a shiver up her spine as she recalled her most recent memories of lightning.

Ben pushed the communication relay and spoke, "Requesting permission to land in an indoor hangar. Transmitting ship signature."

Rey's breathing caught for a moment as the realized this was much a moment of truth as any. By now, the stolen ship of a well known Senator had probably been cause to send the ship's old signature to every spaceport that could be reached, even more so because of who had stolen it. If HK-47 hadn't done a perfect job in replacing and burning in their new signature, they could be swarmed by Mimban enforcer ships within seconds. Holding her breath, she reached out and squeezed Ben's hand as they waited for a reply.

Several eternal seconds later, an indifferent female voice crackled back to them, "_Permission granted, hanger twenty-six._"

Replying an affirmative, Ben leaned back as he switched off the relay and gave a shaky chuckle.

"I had forgotten. Guess the droid did it."

Offering a silent thanks to Niroh and HK, Rey took the ship down above the spaceport and slowly touched down in the hangar. Starting the power down cycle, Rey stood and walked back to the main cabin. Niroh and HK were sitting at the table near where Ahsoka still lay sleeping. Niroh looked to her as she entered and addressed the both of them.

"We got lanced by some enemy fire before making the jump to hyperspace. That compounded with pushing the ship despite its damage means we're going to need to take a breather here, get some parts and work some repairs."

Niroh got to his feet, "I can hit the shop fronts and cantinas, check for what we might need. I can't imagine having the two of you walking around the port with your names probably being all over the HoloNet is conducive to our being hush-hush."

Ben spoke up as he too entered the cockpit behind Rey.

"Tomorrow. We get to work immediately trying to repair and get out, and people might get curious. Ask what happened to the ship, where we're from, where we're going, etcetera. We need to play this as nonchalantly as we can, considering we don't know who might be here."

He looked to the droid next to Niroh.

"Stay aboard the ship and keep an eye on her. If she wakes up or anything happens, get ahold of us on our com links. The rest of us will head into the rooms they keep just off the hangars for visitors. Tomorrow morning, we're getting to work."

Rey, with Ben and Niroh close behind her, walked down the ramp of the _Ghost. _The hangar was devoid of any workers as the lateness of the day might cause. The hangar itself was a large circular chamber with a closeable roof above them; Ben walked over as Rey felt a few heavy drops of rain and the wind began to howl softly above them and placed a hand on the console that caused the roof to seal itself from the storm growing outside. Bidding Niroh a good night's sleep, Rey and Ben entered one of the few rooms that lined the edge of the chamber.

Within was the most welcome sight Rey felt she had seen in years. Dropping her small satchel and staff in the corner, she walked a few paces and collapsed onto the bed that had stolen her attention. Letting out a sigh that she tried to put all the stress and fear of the past twenty four hours into, she turned her head to see Ben looking at her with mild amusement.

"I suppose you wouldn't mind if I joined you."

Shaking her head, she scooted over and he dropped next to her, lying down much more slowly with just as much relief to have a moment to do nothing but relax. He closed his eyes and Rey watched him affectionately for a few long moments before reaching over and gently stroking the side of his face. He hummed quietly and Rey rolled over to rest her head on his shoulder and drape an arm over his chest.

"It'll be okay Ben. We can't be invincible. We're not all powerful."

He reached up and gripped her hand.

"I should be. I have to be able to protect myself. If I can't do that, how can I protect you?"

Rey didn't have a satisfactory answer to this so instead she kissed his cheek and murmured softly in his ear.

"You won't have to. I'll be too busy protecting you."

They were both asleep within a minute.

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

As the sun kicked the horizon of Korriban, Banshor looked up to see a faint glint of the ship being sent down to investigate what had happened planetside. At his shoulder, Trilla stood doing what she could to not look at him while he grudgingly did the same.

_I have to make sure I don't hide from this. There's nothing more worthless than a leader blinded by…_

He stopped himself midway through the thought. Blinded by what? Affection? Interest? Infatuation? Each word that passed through his mind caused him to form an angry scowl hidden behind his mask. His skill in the Force let him keep these feelings from running wild all around him; if Trilla could sense this…

"My lord?"

At the sound of her voice, he looked left to her perhaps a little too quickly. Looking to her feet and then up to him, Trilla turned on her heel to fully face him.

"I wanted to ask you—"

This was as far as she got before there came a pulsating hum growing in volume with a perturbing swiftness. With no time to spare, Banshor dug into the dark side of the Force and steadied himself in the moment, something he had failed to do whilst standing there with Trilla up to that point. The world flashed before him with remarkable and simple clarity then and he saw that there were no longer two presences atop the plateau.

There were three. And the third and thrown a lightsaber with perfect accuracy towards Trilla and Banshor's throats.

Reacting instinctively, Banshor repelled Trilla with the Force several yards as he jumped away himself to let the emerald flash of the lightsaber whip past them harmlessly. Banshor was pleased to see that Trilla had reacted with a similar speed and caught herself in midair, letting the Force land her gently. Above them, the lightsaber whirled around and returned to its owner who landed a short distance away from them. Physically, he looked to be the same man that had blown apart the underground chamber in depths of Korriban in a vain attempt to keep the apprentice from leaving but in the Force, he was a towering presence of chaotic black energy.

In an effort to perhaps provoke some answer, Banshor addressed him inaccurately.

"Ezra Bridger. Back again."

The yellow glow behind the eyes told him that Ezra's body was no longer being controlled by it's original owner and then rumbling deep tone that escaped Ezra's throat confirmed it. It was an almost familiar feeling that Banshor felt as though he knew this presence or had, a long time ago. Something was causing a furious churning in his gut, but he couldn't put a finger on it.

"To know that the Sith order I created so many years ago lives still… it does my soul good."

That had not been what he was expecting. Feigning further ignorance, Banshor spread his arms in pretend confusion. "I hate to break it to you Ezra, but you're no more a Sith than that dirt you're standing on. And while you're definitely older, you're not _that _old."

A chuckle that crackles like thunder escaped the possessed body before him.

"My dear Sith lord, Ezra is no longer here. At least not in the capacity he was. In his foolish quest to understand Sith philosophy, he stumbled upon my tomb. I waited so long to have a chance to reenter the galaxy anew, but I never could have guessed that I would have access to such a powerful and capable form. The Force smiles upon me."

The lightsaber snapped back to his hand and he gestured grandly. There was a great rumbling in the Force as though the very nature of it and the dark side were being reminded on a tremendous scale. The voice was a black snarl of hate and disdain as it echoed in Banshor's ears and mind.

"Behold, the return of Darth Bane!"

Banshor felt Trilla freeze in fear to his right and felt no small amount of trepidation clench at his gut. The amount of dark power flowing around him indicated that Ezra's body was in the current possession of a being with a great deal of power, perhaps more than he had ever felt. Ahead of him, the possessed body continued.

"The two of you are fortunate, remarkably so. You will be the first servants of my new order, allowed to obey my command and enforce my will. Kneel."

To her credit, Trilla didn't act upon the order that Darth Bane issued, but the apprentice felt her look to him physically and in the Force, desperate for direction. Banshor felt his own feelings writhe madly in him as he tried to process the reality of this. In the Force, Bane was immense and hulking, a juggernaut of power untapped and raw. Any other Force sensitive being might have dropped to his knees in wake of this pure dark energy.

But Darth Banshor, lord of the Sith, servant to none, simply reached into the dark side and let it take his fear and crush it underfoot. All at once, his anxiety towards the situation evaporated and though neither Bane nor Trilla could see it, he smirked.

"Darth Bane, eh?"

He felt Trilla's shock equal to the surprise of Bane as he drew his lightsaber and let its red fire meld with the glow of the evening sun.

"A crusty old relic is hardly cause for concern, Trilla."

There was a rush of emotion from her that he felt then, running from fear to disbelief to denial before she finally did him proud and settled on determination, even though he felt nerves tearing their way through her mentality. As he heard her weapon snap to life to mirror his own, he directed the tip of his blade towards Darth Bane.

"Your time has long passed. Perhaps you've grown senile in your old age, but the galaxy has no place for you any longer. A new order to the galaxy will be installed shortly, and you represent nothing more than an obstacle."

Rage began to billow out of Bane's presence towards him and Banshor focused himself in the Force as he reaches through it to connect himself with Trilla mentally. He had never willingly shared his mind with anyone save for his master, but the situation dictated they have every advantage they could afford. He kept the deeper recesses of his mind sealed tightly off, but for his perception of the moment he lent entirely to her and her to him.

"You are a fool, Sith. However many have passed before you, nothing you could have gained in thousands of years of experience and teaching in Sith advancement could mean anything to me. Do you truly wish to die now in defiance of the greatest Sith to bestride the galaxy?"

Not able to resist the jibe, Banshor replied, "I think I ought to be asking you that."

The dark side clashed then, three different levels of three very different beings fighting for control of the Sith, and the galaxy.


End file.
